Trip Reports - SECOND TRIP REPORT, QANTAS DOWN UNDER, LAX-AUCKLAND

PART 1
NEW ZEALAND, COOK ISLANDS, AUSTRALIA
Ok, I am back. This is my second trip report, so again, please show leniency. When I am on my 10th, then I may have the hang of this.

We were supposed to go to South Africa(looks like we are going in May, yeah!) and then they had floods in Cape Town, my friend said not to come. UGH

So, called USAir(USScare!? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) and cashed in a lifetime of miles, 140K to be exact, on Qantas First. The agent was so nice, but was mad that I had to pay the expedite fee, which I could have avoided a day earlier. They need to get rid of those as we went down to LAX and picked up the tickets. How does this differ from 6 months in advance? It is a cheap moneymaker for the airlines.

As it turns out, we left September 9, 2002. Kind of an interesting time, if you will, not knowing what was coming up in a few days.

My car had broken down, so had to rent a car, which was actually perfect. Leave the car in the shop while away and returned the car to LAX, picked up in Malibu. Doesn't get any better. I never fly out of LA on a Sunday, was when they had seats, so this was new in and of itself. I was able to go to church(singles group), said my goodbyes, then off to LAX. Yes, excited. I arrived at the Budget lot at LAX literally on the dot when the car had to be in without being charged a penalty, I loved it!!
I also realized at this point that I had too much luggage, had to drag it over. Porter please! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Arrived at the beloved Bradley Terminal at LAX(ative). I really do love this terminal.
It is more like a European Airport and it is a pleasure to fly out of.

Dragged the bags to the Qantas First line. No one was there! Hello!? Had to ring the buzzer and someone comes from out of the cage http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Not a good start, but oh well.
I was checked in, and asked for the extra priority tags which I love to collect, she obliged. The start of
"Airport Shopping."

Did the Duty Free check. Have to have a boarding pass to go in, so, the pleasures have begun. Security was easy and it was lounge time. Yes, I am a lounge lizard, airline and hotel! By the way, I had arrived several hours early. Oneworld-BA, QF, and CX( do you understand the airline codes here!? let me know if no), have about 4/5 lounges airside at Bradley. I pretty much had the First Class lounge to myself http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, tv and all. You can see into the public area of the terminal so it is fun to watch the people, departure boards, and know that you are comfortably airside. The food was average(was better last time, ugh) and so jetted. Went to the main QF-Qantas and BA-British Airways lounge. This lounge is large and spacious, with friendly personnel. Good sandwhiches, snacks, drinks, and not a bad view. We experienced a small earthquake, barely noticed, but someone had to point it out. The area I had driven, by Hollywood, was the epicenter. Was very happy that I had come early. They also have a smaller lounge downstairs that they share with ANA, but too small and cramped to enjoy.

Went outside to meet my friend Brian. His mom pulled up and dropped him off in front of Bradley. Not realizing that would be the last time for a while that you could do something like that. I was able to pick up more tags with his check-in, another perousal of Duty Free. I bought a box of American chocolates for my kiwi penpal that I have been referring to as my "wife"(playfully), for quite a while...... She owed me a chocolate cake. SHE STILL OWES ME A CHOCOLATE CAKE http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif SMILE.
It was a bet between the South Africa and New Zealand rugy teams. I can't see the games here, but took South Africa. I love both, can easily side with SA, and it ticked off "my wife", so, that worked.

We did the lounge thing. The Cathay lounge opened up, swiped some magazines and bottled water for the flight. CX has nice Ghiradelli chocolates at the entrance(fyi, so does the Air France lounge). We also, surprisingly, had access to the Japan Airlines lounge, so swiped some JAL swizzle sticks and Milano cookies. Nothing special. Can't read Japanese/Nihongo, so not much to take from there. As I normally can't get airside, I like to check out the lounges. One of my fav's is the lovely Singapore lounge, which I was able to use 2 years earlier. I miss them! She gave me a Straits Times newspaper, one of the best in the world. Very informative, on an int'l scale. Plus, it is fun to read about Singapore, which I love.

More sandwhiches and drinks(some-drinks/Perriers- accidentally fell into my bag, oops ) and then it was flight time. Yes, I was excited. Qantas First, again. Had to leave the tv. They did one of those adventure things that Brian is into and they went to, of all places, South Africa. They showed inside a SAA 744 and inside Jo'burg Airport. Ok, I was salivating. I was supposed to be on my way there. I was also very happy where I was going.

Let me just say, ah hmmmmm, my carry on was virtually empty upon arrival at the Airport. Now, I could barefly lift it, and this was before the flight. I do like to have drinks and goodies, newspapers, for the flight, altough in First, you should be well taken care of. I suppose the Singapore paper alone fills up a bag, it is huge!

We were escorted to the gate by one of those motor vehicles from the elevator. Normally, I would prefer to walk, but with the bag......

It was fun to check out the big "kanga" on the tail and get the registration #(will give later, along with a complete listing of flights). You can feel Australia by looking at the plane.

They had a separate queue/line for us First people, a nice change from the usual coach line, and on the plane we went. Normally, fyi, I am on the cheap fares in the back of the bus. Then save up my miles for something like this.

We were warmly welcomed aboard by the extremely friendly Australian crew, when are Australians not friendly?(when they are playing against New Zealand, he he he ). :-P

Warm welcomes, juices, waters, amenity kits http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif)))))))), duvet, pillow, menus,
newspapers, sleep suits and all, were handed out. Again, with extremely warm smiles and Aussie hospitality. Ok, I could get used to this.
I took the big seat, 4A, with a large table at the side, conducive for lot's of reading, but bad for views through the window.

Moved to the right hand side for takeoff. Some idiot doesn't show up, they are ready to remove his bag, then, alas, he got on board, thank you!

Push back and safety demo. If you sit in coach/Business, I love the Qantas safety demo. When they demo the emergency exits, they show forward and then immediately jump around to show the rear exits. I call it the Qantas dance. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif LOL

They picked up the macademia nuts and drinks. Take off was on the north side, smiled as I saw the multiple Air Kiwi(Air New Zealand) jumbos going our way, at Terminal 2. I think they have as many Air Kiwi Jumbos at LAX as at Auckland sometimes, amazing.

We did the usual lift off, out over the Marina, the Pacific Ocean(seeing lot's of that tonight!), and toward my beloved Malibu, aka Paradise on earth, LOL.
It was exciting to see the beach(Zuma, fyi) of Malibu where I jog/walk everyday. I could see the general area where I live, and was amazed how close everything had looked. When I am on the beach, I just see a dot with flashing lights. (However, planes on approach lately seem to be lower and quite clear)

With that, we turn left, and that was it for land for another 12 hours to New Zealand.

FYI, we had left about 9pm, Sunday, September 9, arrived Tuesday morning, September 11, hence, we had a couple hours of Monday. Remember, the big day of September 11 took place Down Under, on Sep. 12th.......



------------------
Michael
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
HH GLD, SCI GLD, MM SIL
LE PRESIDENT ETERNEL DE CAMAIR-CAMEROUN AIRLINES :)

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">When you read the trip reports, if you like them, why not dabble a quick word...</font>


Dabble, dabble, dabble....

Cool report. Thanks. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Thanks for the dabble, more is coming now.

PART 1 CONTINUED

Ok, the service started right after take off. In another trip report for this flight, I have a menu somewhere, will find and post, if possible.

The service was great and personal. I went to the nice bathroom with marble tiles, cologne, and everything else you could want. They even have a window, I like that. Though you look out and it is pitch black dark for the entire flight. Coming back from AKL last time, there was a full moon, so it actually was a payoff to look out the window. I changed into the sleeper suit, very comfortable, and was ready for the pampering. The crew duly handed me additional amenity kits and anything else requested.

They pulled out the table, from the side panel, and prepared it. Fine, white linen, silverware, yes, full set http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, fine china, and all the works. The appetizers involved a soup and salad and they were good. If I asked for both, , they would grant your wishes, no problem, and they would say thank you as they served me. With respect, my fellow Americans seem to have forgotten the word thank you, sorry, but true, so this is a nice and refreshing come back. Go take a bunch of people out to lunch and not one thank you, ugh. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Dinner was delicious. I wanted a chicken, they were out, so they went back to Business, dressed it up in First class garb, and was very nice. Overall, Qantas food is delightful. They must put some serious $$$ into their catering. I have flown on other airlines in First where the catering was abysmal, so it is appreciated.

The dessert was some kind of sorbet, nothing I had really cared for, but they do put out chocolates and gave me extras of those. It was nice to have the table cleared up, and with the meal service completed, it was time to go for my 1st walkabout. It is a good idea, especially on long flights, to take a walk through the cabin. Stretches your legs, muscles, and all. Remember, DVT!!!
It is fun to walk into coach with the Qantas sleepsuit on. Sorry, perhaps it is obnoxious!? It is so comfy and have to have my walks. I like the room in the back of the 747, you can actually stand up and move about. It is great.
I notice as you go back, the crew seems to become less and less friendly. Anyone agree with that? Back to the front.

They put out chocolates(good!), cookies or biscuits, aka, and some fruit.
Drinks were plenty and service was quite attentive, again, very friendly.

They have a personal IFE, inflight entertainment system, and not bad, though they need more sitcoms. They have a few. It beats American Airlines' crummy(read cheap) system of CBS and I love Lucy. Ugh. I can't stand that crap on AA for anything. Where are the Aussie sitcoms? they were all American! This is the Australian airline, eh? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I watched the regular movies on the schedule, then became bored, so looked up the separate list of movies from the program(me). You insert the small video tape into the side of your armrest, very nice. I never took advantage of it on Lufthansa, so duh on me, LOL.
I had always wanted to see Traffic, saw it, was so bored with it, it went back early. Then the movie about the Cuban missile crisis, good, but I was slowly going into sleep mode.

Sleep on this plane is doable. A comfortable, individual seat, with lot's of nice gadgets and controls(more than Air Kiwi), a duvet/large blanket, pillow, and a good crew to keep an eye on you. I did get some sleep for a few hours, waking up maybe 2 hours out of Auckland. The excitement increases as you get closer.

They did a nice breakfast service, basic eggs, sausages, like a regular English breakfast, not bad. Bagels(which I love!) and other breads and juices. Did a walk through the cabin before landing. Had to fill out the Kiwi landing cards, and the amount of info to fill out competes with the pain in the but US Customs cards. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I changed back into real clothes, splashed some cologne, and started packing up. I had a stack of magazines and newspapers on my table, with the grandiose Singapore paper staying behind.

We started our descent, everything was cleaned up, and went into the approach. With the table blocking my way,
I couldn't see the view. Brian could see beautiful Auckland and the Skytower, I had no prayer with that table in the way and for some reason???, Qantas leaves the lights on for take off and landing, will never get that one. So I got up, yes, on descent :-P, and moved to the same empty seat on the right. I missed a nice view of the city but you could see Devonport and the Northern suburbs. The plane banks left and goes into final. Engines roaring, love it!! Not many lights in the distance and our jumbo lands at Auckland Int'l. Welcome to New Zealand. You are cheated arriving at night as the day approach, as you will see arriving from the Cooks,
is spectacular. Aioterrea! Sorry, can't remember the spelling, but sure Gail(my kiwi wife http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) will correct.

I realized while the plane was taxiing that I was here just one year ago, didn't plan on that.
They gave a warm happy birthday to a member of a tour group that had been cheated of his birthday, as Monday was a very short few hours for us, crossing the int'l dateline into September 11th.

We taxiied past the Air Kiwi and Qantas domestic terminals, that is what makes it special, to see the local stuff. Pulled into the first gate at the beautiful int'l terminal. I grabbed some extra amenity kits and goodies that people leave behind. So much is asked of me when I come back from a trip, ugh http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. You thought my carry on was heavy before!? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

It was sad to say goodbye to the crew. There were 2 female F/A's who had pampered me the whole way.
They were great!! Into the jetbridge and on New Zealand soil. Ok, I don't cry here, but I did cry last year when it was my first time to Kiwiland. It is so beautiful and it has been a lifelong dream of mine to come here. More incredible beauty than on most of the earth, save Maui and Switzerland, of course. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif AND MALIBU! :-P~~~

I love this airport as there is none of that BS of keeping you in a sterile hallway from the others. You walk into the terminal, stretch your legs, and have full access to the Duty Free and other shops, I love it! Australia is not like this, fyi. We bought some chocolates and then tried to get into the Qantas Club lounge, and was duly turned down. The plane was going on to Brisbane but as were only pee on arriving pax, we had no access. I strongly disagree with this as arriving pax should have access to the lounge, if there is no arrivals lounge.
That has never made any sense to me, sorry. It sends a terrible message to the pax, we are done with you, go away!

Down the hallways, past the arrival Duty Free shops, love that concept!, and into immigration. I think many of the pax were going on to Brisbane and while we were shopping, everyone had moved on. You are warmly welcomed by uniformed(cute uniforms) staff into the country. No lines/queues for us foreigners and right up to immigration. Stamp the passport, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif)), and stamp the landing card. I guess this means I pass go and collect $200!?, kiwi, of course. The uniformed staff all have headsets on, kind of like a rock concert, I love it!

Bags were there, of course, after all the time upstairs, and FIDO http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif runs around sniffing your bags, just as we do here in the US. I assume these dogs don't bite!? On the beach, they do attack, hence, careful. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

There was, however, a long queue to exit. 3 lines merging into one, like leaving a football stadium.
All bags into New Zealand are X-rayed for agricultural purposes, understand, though some do get the red door and are fully checked, thankfully, I am not one of them. They politely assisted with the luggage, I like that, and out we go into the public area. YEAH!!!

AKL is a beautiful terminal, with many shops and conveniences. Unfortunately, they were doing construction
and so parts were a bit messy. We did the rental car thing, Avis, nice and easy, and did a quick walk around the downstairs, which at 5-6 am, was empty.

I love the area outside by the rental cars/car hire. It is very peaceful, relaxing, and you can hear the jet engines.
There is a large Kiwi flag in front of the terminal, and I love that. Everyone should follow that example. I landed in Amsterdam and I don't think I saw one Dutch Flag, maybe the EU flag, ugh...

We made our way out of the airport, motorway, into the city, hitting some morning rush hour. It was an incredible feeling just to be here, I can't even explain it. We were now, essentially, at the bottom of the world.

They had completed a brand new Hilton in the last year( were at the Sheraton-nice, last time) and so had to try it. It has a weird location as it is out on a dock, in a business office complex. You can see it coming down the main street. Pure white.

The hotel is brand new, immaculate, with, surprise surprise http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif for New Zealand, friendly staff. I loved them and just want to take them home with me!!! especially that cute one over there, LOL

Too early for check in, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif, so left the bags with the porters while they cleaned the room.

Did some driving about and some shopping. Again, just can't get over the beauty of this city.

Back to the hotel, got our room, through the bags down, and bed time. The room is nice, but small, to be honest. The bathroom is magnanimous and very comfy. I love the separate shower with glass doors which seems to be more popular down under. (Ok, I could spend more time in here, as my fiance cringes http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif LOL)
The bed is so comfy, needed after a long trip. It is well into Monday afternoon back home. Take the kiwi time, add 5 hours, minus a day. Drives ya nuts at first but you get used to it.

Gorgeous view of the city and harbo(u)r, with boats to the northside right below us. It was freezing cold out on the balcony, but worth it! We are in Auckland.........

Very interesting trip report!! Thanks!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Michael,

Enjoying your trip reports.

Wishing I had time to make it to NZ as well as OZ on my honeymoon later this year.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">When you read the trip reports, if you like them, why not dabble a few words...</font>

Dabble on, dude! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif I enjoyed your trip report and look forward to the return portion!

Worldtraveler36, great report! Looking forward to the continuation. NZ really feels like a world away from America, especially when something like 9-11 happens.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
Sleep on this plane is doable. A comfortable, individual seat, with lot's of nice gadgets and controls(more than Air Kiwi)
</font>

Have you flown AirNZ first as well? How did they compare, especially food/service wise? QF Business (not having tried first) do have fabulous catering, but the only airline I've tried that beats them is 'Air Kiwi'. Those F seats on NZ are looking a bit primitive these days, though...

Anyway, keep up the good work!

Thanks everyone. I had to dabble http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif a quick thank you to everyone's comments, as they are encouraging. Will be doing another part soon, with comparisons to Air Kiwi's Bus, coming up, sorry, no First on the 767's, just their 744's to LA and Europe. Thanks!!!

PART 2, AUCKLAND

Alas, let me get more Perrier here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif and we shall begin. I am going to assume that my fiance realizes that she wasn't my fiance when all this happened http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

After some sleep, and nice at that, woke up to some tv news and Kiwi shows. This is the last time you could sit down and watch the news(in a regular form) for a long time. My "kiwi wife" called and we arranged to meet, her coming up to the Big City, from Hamilton. I prefer the Big City, or being close to it. This is where you get that weird jetlag feeling. Where am I? LOL You're tired, can't go back to bed. You want very much to go out and play, but you don't have all your strength. Plus, again, you are at the bottom of the world. How far away is Antartica anyway? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Ok, downstairs and "wifey" shows up. She is cute, ouch. This isn't supposed to happen. smile. (If I keep putting smileys on here it messes me up when I copy and paste and post) She hands Brian and I both a nice bag each of Kiwi candy(really British, Cadbury and all, smile, though I am sure the Kiwi subidiary). By the way, in case you are reading this!?(and hope that you are, Gail), they were delicious, especially the marble one. YUMMMMM Have never seen that anywhere outside NZ, and loved it. Thank you. FYI, I was in a chat room many moons ago and met her-Gail, online. We have kept in touch since. We even called a few times, though not a cheap call. Hence, it was special to finally meet in person. FYI, she was seeing someone and didn't tell me till right when I came down. It was just an online thing til then, LOL, smile.

One of the benefits to having a wife abroad, smile, is that you get a free tourguide.
People were out walking around and AKL has a pretty decent nightlife. However, we headed out over the bridge( and I love this bridge!) to the North-Devonport. Last time we had found a wonderful Thai resto(French slang for restaurant) in this cute land of AKL suburbia. Hence, and very dissapointed, the Thai resto was gone. DANG!!!
We did, however, enjoy a nice pizzeria, like a California Pizza kitchen. Not bad. A little far from Italy, but not bad. Did I mention that I paid? Plastic does wonders, knows no borders, except perhaps Libya?!, smile.

We went over to the ferry dock and hung out. You have a fantastic view of the City skyline. Unfortunately, with the energy crisis, they turned the lights off(most of them anyway) from the Skytower. If you saw the CNN Report of around the world for New Year's, they shot off fireworks from this monster. Love it! I love towers, Brian loves to tease me about it. I love what a tower does to a city's skyline, look at Paris, Toronto, Seattle, and even Jo'burg(although theirs is shut down as it is located in a bad part of town-well, what isn't a bad part of town? LOL)... Anyway, even with the lights off, it is impressive, and while it is cold(yes, my arm is around her, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ), I love the view.

Back to the city for another drive and tour. Back to the hotel. Stayed up talking with a few drinks(non-alcoholic) and then to bed. Ok, here we go. We proabably went to bed about 1AM give or take there. Add +5 hours is 6am LA, and 3+ hours for New York. Can you guess what happened while we went to sleep? UGH

September 12 for us, September 11 for you.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:

I am going to assume that my fiance realizes that she wasn't my fiance when all this happened http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

</font>

Ohhh, if it were me or should I say let me speak as a female, I can tell you, she probably still won't want to know this. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pointsgirl:
Ohhh, if it were me or should I say let me speak as a female, I can tell you, she probably still won't want to know this. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt;AH, OUCH!!! am I in trouble? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif thanks.

PART 2 CONTINUED, AKL

We pause for this brief commercial message on how to skin a sheep http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif.

Ok, woke up at 6am, yes, things have been going on for a few hours, OH, but do I appreciate that she or no one, for that matter, called, WE needed that sleep so bad.

I get up, go out on the balcony. Absolutely freezing, chilling wind. Gorgeous view of the city and harbo(u)r at sunrise. Hey Brian, let's turn on the tv. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif. He actually said no. As a classic tvaholic, I did it anyway, :-P~~~.

NZTV1, NZTV2, NZTV3, PRIME, CHANNEL 4, AND CNN, PLUS ANYTHING ELSE, ALL HAD THE SAME UGLY PICTURE!!! THE WORLD TRADE CENTER WAS ON FIRE. At first, what?!, HUH!? Is this the same movie on all the stations? on CNN?????? NO! Just the idea of our beloved WTC on fire, alone, freaked us out.

Slowly, the news reports came in, and we were frozen. No way!! What? In fact, to be honest, I get the chills now, just thinking about it. I don't know what it was like for you guys back at home to watch this, but I think even worse to be so far away.

The NZ stations, for the most part, relayed the US stations. Gee, long time no see. Slowly, they would get the pieces of info that Arabs decided to smash some planes into our big representation of America and capitalism all in one. One of the sick things about it, when SA didn't work out, we had looked at other places to go to. First, with all due respect, I wouldn't want to be stranded in SA with all this, but could you imagine Dubai, one of the considerations. Plus, DL completely dropped Dubai after this, so we'd be majorly SOL. FYI, Brian works for Delta and it would have been on a buddy pass. USAIr, I love you(for having the seats)...

The whole morning, day, what have you, was on this. Yes, it drove us nuts. I called home, we talked. My family explained about LAX being shut down and all flights in the US were ordered to land immediately. Had several friends on planes(one is a F/A) who was stranded in Arkansas . A friend from Santa Barbara, first class and all, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif, was grounded in Newfoundland and lived in a tent for a few days when coming back from Paris. UGH... No Four Seasons there, Sara. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif (should have pushed for Montreal, smile) Atleast, we are down here, safe and sound. The idea of no flights home was unstabling, to say the least. But then, we had a week and we'd see how things go. Can they keep flights grounded forever? If you know the US, we need airtravel, we just do. Look at what happens when one airline goes on strike, it actually has a toll on the American economy. By the way, planes from Down Under to the US were sent back. OUCH!!! 12 hours for absolutely nothing. Did you get miles for that?!

Anyway, we did some room service so we could stay by the tv. Was afraid to be away from the tv.
Kiwi wife came over and we went to a major shopping area, mostly outdoor, in the city. Was nice. I bought my standard postcards(I have a whole wall plastered with Kiwi cards). It was sunny, had warmed up, and it was great to get out and see the people. We then went to some kind of Monument Park, statue on top, and a great view of the city and surrounding areas. Great for pics!! It was clear as a bell and could see forever. It also, something which I do appreciate, helped me to get my bearings on where evreything is. The Airport is south, the city north, this is here, that is there, and yes, you can see planes taking off and landing... It was nice. We had the radio on and one of the hardparts, listening to talk radio, the guy calls in and says how the US deserved it-the attack. That hurt, sorry. The announcer and my friend, as well as future callers, apologized, but it still hurt. We give out tons of foreign aid, try to establlish peace in other countries, and our payback from a kiwi is that we deserved it. HMmmmm By the way, as I will share about the Aussies later(and even more so in my opinion), the Kiwis were very, very supportive of the US. That morning flowers were placed at the Embassy in Wellington. They interviewed the US Ambassador,and massive support was shown.
God bless our Kiwi cousins.

Ok, here comes the hard part. Back to the hotel, and time to say goodbye to wifey. I, MAY!?, see her when we come back from the Cooks. A big hug, and Brian was nice to leave us alone, appreciated. It was hard to see her drive off. I go back and visit Ohio and the goodbyes are almost deadly. Emotional hell, if you will. She, by the way, if you like irony, is dating and will mostly likely marry a man from Pasadena, CA(lifornia). I laugh.

With that, we check out, great service, great staff!!! We will be back! We take the long way to the airport, motorway is jammed, and out to the Airport, via the little suburbs and what have you, very scenic, very beautiful. Petrol and bought some goodies at the market there. Who knows what we will have access to in the Cook Islands? (hint, not much, LOL)

I will leave the rest for part 3. So, back to skinning your sheep. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Please be careful as these are sacred to NZ.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
&gt;&gt;&gt;AH, OUCH!!! am I in trouble? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif thanks.

</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I suppose you could quote one of Shaggys songs "Wasn't me".

Cool! Great Report!

I am going to OZ on Mar 31 and did choose the airline yet but I will try to go on Quantas F this time. I thought LH were the only ones with a window in the F lavatories http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif but to read about marble tiles ....
BTW strolling around Eco class with your F class sweater on is quite cool, it perfectly meets my sense of humour, but, just to point it out, it might be politically incorrect http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Hey, Michael, great report. Don't keep us in suspense...next installment, please.

Good report. I'm going to be in Auckland for a few days next month and then will sail throughout the islands in the Huraki Gulf.

As for shearing sheep ... I once went to a very cool party put on by Neiman Marcus. It had this whole Down Under theme and Olivia Newton John and some other famous Aussies were there. Anyway they have this guy singing Waltzing Matilda and teaching us how to shear sheep. Jimmy Stewart took a crack at it. The pro could do a lamb in like a minute flat ... the rest of us didn't fare quite as well. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Was PremEx with you? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by geo1004:
Was PremEx with you? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/redface.gif</font>


&gt;&gt;&gt;Sorry, have no idea who he is. Just my best friend, Brian, works for Delta, not on here, YET! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I am working on him.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. They are so appreciated. Uli, fly Qantas. Have done LH and QF First, prefer QF by a longshot, but LH is good. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif thanks!!!

Next installment to the Cooks, will work on in a bit. Have to call the fiance http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. You'll love it. Get ready for Air New Zealand and an Island in the middle of nowhere! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ciao

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Nanook:
Hey, Michael, great report. Don't keep us in suspense...next installment, please.</font>

Thanks Nancy, the Perrier is here and back to work for another segment. Kia ora http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

AND NOW THAT WE ARE THRU SHEARING THE SHEEP http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

PART 3, AKL-RARO

Ok, Perrier in hand, smile, we are back at Auckland Airport. Returned the car to the car hire area, as one says, and wheeled the bags inside. We did a booboo in not playing around the airport public area and went right to Air New Zealand/Air Kiwi http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif 's exclusive First/Business check in area. Nice!!! FYI, as you will say later, Qantas has one, too.

I wish that all airports had something like this. It is your own private check in area, nice facilities, wonderful agents, very First and Business. It was a simple and efficient check-in. The agent could not have been more personal or friendly, loved it!
I will think of this when I check in at American's "First Class" check in at Miami when I stand in an icky line for 20 minutes. hmmmmmm

He gave me extra priority tags, smile, and not only checked us in, but took care of the immigration-departure formalities. Passport check(the airlines do this anyway,eh?), departure card, and the beloved $22 kiwi dep. tax, YUCK! We are going to a NZ dependent territory and still paying the departure tax, not fair, but, whatever.

By doing this, we forfeited the right to go play in the terminal, but then we'd be back in a few days... You go through a turnstyle type contraption, feed the boarding card into the reader, with a nice note saying big fine if you try this and not supposed to/illegal entry, etc. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, but then that is when it is more fun, LOL.

Fantastic. Short cut upstairs, no immigration check(no stamp either, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif ), and to security, which is as always efficient and friendly. Boy could these people teach Argenbrite some things. smile. (hint, US airport security sucks! need I say more?) I guess we had enough evidence of that in the last 24 hours.

We did some duty free shopping, not knowing what would be waiting for us in the Cooks. Chocolates and waters, fyi. Good shopping opportunities. With the Kiwi $$$ at 2:1 to the US green thingy $$$, it is a bargain!

Then to the Air New Zealand lounge. One of the perks for flying Business. FYI, at the last minute, Brian cashed in some Untied miles(60K, 30K each) for 2 Bus. class seats. We could have gone anywhere in the South Pacific, Tahiti was so tempting, but the flights didn't work. Brian had come here before, made me salivate, so had to try it.

The lounge is large, spacious, but nothing too fancy. There was a small buffet of food( NZ is good about this), but for some reason, I wasn't very impressed with the choice of food or beverage, read, no mineral water. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Not that natural kiwi water is anything to scoff at, it ain't.

I was able to swipe some inflight magazines, including the Thai Air domestic magazine(sorry Darwin, only 1), Asia Business Report, Far Eastern Economic Review(very good magazine), and a newspaper. If I ever see the Hong Kong South China Morning Post, also very good, MINE!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

They had a nice, quiet area where we could watch the planes. Fewer flights as there were no flights to the US and the United 747-400 was parked at the side. Most of NZ's 744's go to LA and Europe, so they were out. There was talk about routing Kiwis 747's via Asia to London, but they said no. They should have, if can secure the int'l air rights. Why not use the thing than park it for a week!?

The tv was on and of course "September 11th" was on. I wanted to see, watch everything, at the same time, it just freaked me out to watch, so stayed away. Gave us yanks far more attention by the kiwi businesspeople who predominated in the lounge. Oh look at the cute yanks, their country iz gone up i' smoke. whatever...

One odd thing, I will share. I like the special cloth towels in the bathrooms, smile. Qantas has these onboard and in the First lounges. Shall we say, I like them, and I take them. They are nice... that is done....

Ok, boarding to the Cooks. Have no idea what it will be like. Kind of weird, but very exciting. We did take a look at the First lounge, which was dead, as no flights to the US, which is where they need it-744s.

I did a smart thing before boarding. I am always the pain in the behind who boards last, I'll tell ya http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Not thinking there would be any changes, I walked around the terminal and saw them board a China A340 to Taipei, at the last gate. When we come back, quick hint now, won't be possible. Details to follow. Hint, 9/11.
So, without knowing it, it was my last chance to enjoy the nice openess of the terminal.......again, it really is a beautiful terminal,so open, comfy, and excellent shopping. Also, large windows so you can see what is going on.

PART 3 CONTINUED(SHEEP TAKES A BREAK)

Boarding was quick and efficient. Business was maybe half full, max, which is good.
They came around with pre-flight drinks, I usually take a juice..... Menus, amenity kits http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif))))))))))))))))))))), that was a nice surprise!!! could I have some extras please?
(they couldn't give me enough of these things! love 'em) Ah, headsets.....

As I was on the right hand side, watched the traffic, saw that the left side would be better for take off and a view of the city, I made my move. I tried this last year on Qantas and the captain pulled a fast one on me-I moved to the other side of the cabin, they he pulls a sharp turn and turned off into the other direction... Got totally screwed on that one, so now, I will show them.

Push back, sunset outside, and standard safety demo. Audio recording, and kinda like Qantas, crew stand at the side of the video and direct you to the exits, sorry, no Qantas dance, but entertaining enough. The crew are more monotone than on Qantas... Come on guys, we need more smiles and laughts, or the tickling will start, LOL http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

Taxiing out ceded a good view of the airport/terminals. The rarest thing, apart from the CI A340, was
a Polynesian 737-300(733). Would love to go on there and play...

Taxiied past the domestics, standard kiwi 737 and Qantas New Zealand 146's, need to strip those to the bare bones as well. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Good take off, and then, as hoped and prayed, excellent view of Auckland-downtown. It was dusk, so the lights were on, but could still view the ground, the lakes, water inlets, and all. Skytower was flashing, and you could see the party like scene going on in Kiwiland's biggest city. Though Wellington ain't bad, either.

With that, he flies out into the Pacific, and then as is shown on the flight map(couldn't live without it!), all blue til we get to a little dot in the (literal) middle of nowhere. Now, that expression takes effect.

Air Kiwi has a decent IFE, inflight video or whatever you want to call it. Some decent sitcoms and movies.
The flight is about 4 hours, so really time for one movie and a couple of sitcoms, short subjects, and it is a break from the news, which had taken its toll, then again, I also wanted to know what was going on. Is New York still there? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Seats were comfy, and thankfully, had 2 seats to myself. Legroom was decent, could be a little bit better. Air Kiwi doesn't have all the bells and whistles as Qantas, seats are older, standard recline, footrest, etc., but nice. It worked. For 4 hours, no problems. If this were a long bounce around the Pacific to LA, I would be more, arghhhhhhhhh......

I did my walkabout the cabin. Legroom looked good in the back, seats comfy. I think NZ is good for a coach product, average for up front. Looked for magazines and other goodies in the back. I think I found something. I have learned from the best (mom ami http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) in how to search planes for goodies, so thanks for that.

Meal service, ahhhhh. It was a lamb something, suprise, suprise. Not very good, but decent. The rest of the meal was average, nothing special, def. not Qantas by any means. However, a la tv show Friends(my favorite), they did a nice coffee service- I don't drink coffee, and you wouldn't want me to http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. I get enough caffeine from chocolate. Could you imagine me with coffee in my system? ugh... They give you big cups, generous portions, and they had hot chocolate, gee, what a nice idea. All airlines should do hot chocolate!!! spoken as a true chocoholic. They also gave some nice mints, dang, they were good. Even asked for more.

By the way, they had nice blankets(hint, it is on my bed now http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ).... need I say more?! I would have gladly paid for it, but they always so no... Those big Auckland Airport Duty Free bags(which I love and have many) do wonders for airline blankets falling in, smile...

Ok, back to the video. You see all blue, the international dateline, which by the way, put us back to the previous day, and the absolute first time zone on the earth, maybe an hour or 2 behind Hawaii, not sure.
NZ, on the other hand, is either the last or one of the very last time zones on the earth, and is now a day ahead.
The plane starts descending and completely pitch black dark outside. On the map there is a little dot in the middle of the blue. That is the NZ Protectorate Island of Rarotonga, aka Raro. Avrua is the main city, if you want to call it a city.

-3

I came to love a song on the inflight audio, so asked to hold on the headset as they came around. Cleaned out the seat pocket(go figure), and the one next to me.... Descent and preparation... Flaps are going, still all water, pitch black dark. All of a sudden, you can see the flashing light from the Airport Control Tower. Ok, this is exciting. You can see a couple of lights on the Island. The plane banks right, right hand side, descends, flies over the beaches(ah, no shortage here!), literally one or 2 lights, and landing..... boom!!! Welcome to the middle of the Pacific. Yeah!!! A new experience for me, unless you count Hawaii, which is different.

I remember my first time in Hawaii. I would see the 747s from my hotel room taking off and heading out over the Pacific, made me realize how we are in the middle of nowhere. THAT-was childs play compared to this place.......In Hawaii, I would be curious about what is out there, and now, I have some idea.

The landing of the Kiwi 767 is actually a big deal here. At AKL, nothing. Here, it is an event, and you feel it.
Like in the Caymans, he finishes the landing, he does a full 360 and taxies back to the terminal. Gee, with so much traffic, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif)). Not that I am expecting an Emirates 777 or anything like that, LOL.

Plane turns around and parks in front of the terminal. The comotion ensues. We bid our farewells to the nice crew. Professional, good, not overly friendly, but will do. Again, sorry, not Qantas http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

A rare opportunity to exit via stairs, both stairs are used. Here, I get the aircraft registration #, will supply later. 767-300, fyi. They have the full parade of welcome mats and greeters. The Cook Islands Police were there(make sure we behave, smile), they had singers and a nice reception. As were in Business, we had a short wait for immigration. Oh, and it is nice and warm. AKL was cold, this place was warm. Californian was happy. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Immigration was friendly, received a new stamp, YEAH!, and easy. However, she did send me to secondary as I was honest and declared my coveted chocolates-IF YOU HAVE ANY FOOD. Bags came quick, the first officer/customs sent me to the secondary check, no big deal, basic table, explained they were just chocolates, she smiled warmly, welcomed me to the Cooks, and waved me on, and out the door. Pass Go, collect 200 kiwi $$$. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

We had a special bus take us to the hotel. Actually, there are 2 main resorts on the Island, and the shuttle bus takes you to both. I will give you a hint, the bus could have come from Tijuana, maybe a litle bit nicer, enough said. We stored our bags and then I was able to get a quick perousal of the airport, not much to take, almost all outdoors, but fun. They were already boarding the plane for the flight back.

Ok, the place was a little "primitive", said with respect, but was excited. As they have occassional streetlights, the drive was dark and couldn't see much. Totally different picture in the daytime, not realizing the ocean was right there, had no idea. Stopped at the first hotel, was not impressed. Uh oh, what have we done? Then ours. Everyone gets off at once, so long line at check in. They give you some nice juice, as in Hawaii, which is appreciated. We made the big mistake of not upgrading to a nicer room in the first place. UGH. The room was way over at the other end, very dark passage, outside, and kind of, ah, icky. No tv, with 9/11, was not laughing. Otherwise, could live. The room was basic and not very enticing. Felt like I was in deep Africa. I called about some kind of tv, they have one in the main area. There is one tv station, nothing special, but they do a relay every evening of NZTV1 news and a couple of shows, and they also relayed BBC World, thank goodness. I needed news, and I needed it now!!! They even turned the tv on for us. We caught up on all the mayhem back home, with a couple of drinks. Nice sea breeze and comfy. Also, interesting to get the perspective from our allies, the Britts.

We now take a break to play with our coconuts http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

PART 4, COOK ISLANDS

If we are through playing with the coconuts http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, sorry, couldn't resist....

I am trying to put the whole Cooks time in a nutshell, and get back to the flying. I realize that this report goes to different people, Flyertalk, who want more "airtime", and travel friends, who want the travel experience, so trying to balance.

We woke up and went out to a beautiful beach. There is a coral reef, so there are many miles of protected, lovely beach before the Pacific Ocean actually begins. This protects us from sharks and who knows what.

As I sunburn easily, same with Brian http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, we are careful. Later, we find a better beach and spend more time accordingly.

With 9/11, I am craving a tv. In doing some research(and maybe they gave us a break!?, I think so), the cost to rent a tv is just below the cost to upgrade to a better room with a tv, hence, we upgraded. I think it was the cockroach in the room that helped to get us out of there. What a depressing room, sorry, just not the Hilton type I am used to... AND NO MILES!!! Fiji has a Sheraton, fyi, smile.

We did watch the news that morning on the grand, public tv. That was difficult, as the majority of the guests were Kiwi, and there were some Europeans, we were the only Americans and clearly, we (more so I http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) were more emotional
over the goings on. All planes grounded, airports closed, and we can see a panic back home. All of this coming from the BBC so it comes from a British/Int'l perspective. Boy, did we need CNN. Was amazed they didn't have CNN, even out there. These people need a satelite dish. But then, we wouldn't need a tv normally.

Yes, I was mad to watch the events. It took alot of discipline to keep my feelings in. For the others there, their country wasn't being attacked, so, it just isn't the same. Again, while on that subject, I do appreciate the support that we have received from our good friends and allies. Thank you.

The upgrade was a wonderful blessing. It didn't cost that much more, but the room was spectacular. Large, open, tile floors, they don't believe in carpeting?! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, our own wood back porch(loved that), and a bathroom about a 1,000 X nicer.
The last bathroom freaked me out, we'll say that. This was nice. With an outside shower(in addition) , protected by a wall, loved it!

Hence, this area led to a much nicer beach, about 90% why I wanted to come here. The water was warm, cozy, Heavenly. While I did several laps, the current carried you down the beach, was fun! Had to be careful of being carried right into a rock. OUCH! literally. Sunset was superb and beautiful. Brian said it was nicer before when he was there, but it was paradise. It was so difficult for me to get out of the water, I will tell you.

The food was great, some chicken coconut in a sauce that I just loved. We brought over enough chocolate from NZ so we were good. The hotel had a good nightlife. Pool, bars, buffet dinner(nice), and in the evenings, we parked it on 2 long lounge chairs and stared into the Heavens.... I saw stars I never knew existed.... Just incredible... We were about to go in one night and the Kiwi 767 came in on approach, awesome sight.

We rented a car, they rent at the hotel. They have one main road on the entire Island, some small deviations. Brian is good at driving on the left (wrong side http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) and so he took the controls. He is a natural.

We toured the downtown, did a lunch at a nice, outdoor resto partially over the water. Good food. When I asked the waitress where is the bathroom, she pointed to the water and said there you go. Loved the sense of humor!!! By the way, the Cooks Islands people are just so friendly, and with a sense of humor that I loved.

Brian picked up a CI drivers' license, wanted to, got there too late. Someone had to go shopping..... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Market, by the way, was nothing special.

We parked and visited another beach. Dangerously fast current that I wouldn't want to play too much with...

Overall, it was the beach, sightseeing, and fun...... Pretty much sums it up.....

Ah, one more thing, though personal. They had e-mail access at the hotel, though not cheap. We sent messages to our family and friends all over the world. My friend in South Africa explained what a mess it was (horrible storm) and how good it was that we didn't come. We are in Paradise. I think we made the right decision.....

I received an e-mail from a "penpal" inviting me to come see her. That person is now my fiance..... That was an important e-mail and yes, fyi, 9/11 had an impact. Need I say more?! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Thanks for the letter, smile.

Ok, return to Kiwi comes in the next part. Back to the coconuts.......... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

RARO-AKL NZ 767-300 PART 5

Ok, time to check out. About 500 bags in front, waited for the bus. Had to have one last look at the gorgeous beach. We did a last swim that morning. Oh, I will miss it.
FYI, I live about a mile from the beach, if that, and am ON the beach everyday, but the water is too cold to get a swim like that. Oh well. Such is life. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The rickety bus came and got us and I went right on to save us 2 seats. Yes, as expcected, the thing was full with standing room only. There were women standing and both Brian and I had offered them our seats. They said no, but they appreciated the offer. They also pointed out we were the only ones to offer as the other men looked on. So much for the Kiwi gentleman http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. I was actually quite surprised from that.

The plane only comes in once a day, so, everyone checks out at the same time, bus at same time, then checks in at the airport at the same time, though we had Business, so wasn't so bad. Sucked if you were in coach, as this thing was packed full. Next time, rent the car at the airport. Yes, you really do need a car if you want to see the Island. Picked up a stack of Ansett timetables, now worth a fair amount, I should hope.

Check in was quick and she gave me some extra priority tags. I growled http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif at the departure tax and filling out a departure immigration form(if Europe put you through all this I'd have a stroke!). Unfortunately, it is a de rigeur in the Pacific and East Asia, nothing you can do about it.

We spent some time at the outside terminal, watched the plane land and everyone getting off. It was neat to see the smiles on their faces. While we were leaving, we were still on holiday, while most were going back to cold Auckland and to work the next day. :-P~~~ http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Passport control, if you will, was easy, then security. I did get another stamp, so that was cool. I was amazed by the amount of Duty Free shops they had back there. Outside general area, inside shops to the side. Contrary to Brian's prediction( I had looked it up on the ANZ website, duh! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ), Kiwi did have a lounge. It was packed to the gills and some of the food, sitting out for a long time looked, ahhhhhhhhh, so I passed but had some bottled water. There was no place to sit, so, outside... They had one of those funny rainstorms. Sunny, quick rain comes in, soaks you and your carry on bag, moves on. Kind of fun. We were back to the same arrivals hall where we had first entered for boarding. I felt like we, the 2 "TOKEN" Americans, were on display. I didn't see any other Yanks there, so, we were being watched. I hate that!

Boarding was quick and painless(staying near the door, he he ) and onto a fresh and lovely 767-300. The crew was much friendlier and warm compared to coming out.
Pre-flight drinks were orange juice or champagne. Not bad orange. I was dissapointed to see the flight was full, not as comfy. However, a lovely (elderly) Kiwi woman sat down next to me. She couldn't have been any sweeter. She was finishing an around the world trip,via the UK to visit the kids, last leg. Boy, she was ready to get home. She ripped on Singapore Airlines for their coach legroom. It was so bad, that her family in London made her upgrade. She had bruises from the tight legroom. Oh, Singapore!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Engines started and we just went forward from the terminal, safety demo, interesting as the crew point their arms toward the exit(have to get that on video!), still not the Qantas dance, and did a 360 at the end of the runway. Kind of an emotional parting. When will I come back? We saw the Air Rarotonga EMB's. They have a nice paint scheme.

767 takes off, over the water, banks an immediate left, on very low power. Fun, but yes, freaky. He was pulling an "Orange County"- full power on take off, cut power(why, I don't know?! noise abatement? there is one house out there), then full power over the water. We had the utmost gorgeous view of the Island, our resort, the beaches, could see the corral reef, nice, and then he takes on full power. I will say, the power cutting thing made you think a bit. Would suck if for real!!! Please locate your lifevest... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

-5

Unfortunately, he then turns right and no more land, or anything, save a bunch of blue water and clouds to AKL for the next 4 hours. The woman next to me is a delight to talk to, with our swapping our respective travel stories and favorite places.
Pulled out the IFE with airshow and all blue til Kiwiland down there. Int'l dateline, we now have gone from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening. Lost my Saturday evening playtime that I am used to. Oh well. Kind of weird.

Movies and sitcoms were decent. Seat is comfy enough, with footrest, recline, and that nice Business Class blanket.

Food service was better. Chicken something, usual side salad, mineral water, an ice cream for desert, which was good. You will notice that I don't pay much attention to inflight food. It has become so bad overall, more so in coach, that it has become almost irelevant.

Service is friendly, smiles, refills on drinks. What did impress me was all the goodies in the "loo." Lot's of colognes, sprays, etc. I love that. Something most airlines have gone away from but they are nice. Oh, and at this point, full cutlery, no plastic knife, thank goodness. Not yet anyway. What rubbish.

They did the coffee service, after all the cheese and crackers, however, no hot chocolate http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif . Oh well. They gave me another stack of those wonderful mints. Did some reading, then some napping.

Woke up prior to arrival in AKL. We had an incredible approach over the East Coast of New Zealand, flying over a landscape that I have just never seen before. Switzerland, with a litlte bit of Ireland, come to mind. It was incredible and breathtaking. We approached East to West, landing back in civilization. It is so weird to be back in "modernity", if one will.

Quick taxi. Nothing special, another Polynesian 737. Usual Kiwi and Aussie planes.

Now, for the changes post 9/11. We walked into a terminal, bidding the lovely crew goodbye, into all kinds of big partitions around our gate and completely blocking off the end of the terminal. Remember the hint from before? The flights to the US are now leaving from the end and they clear a second set of security, with the area completely blocked off. To be honest, I wasn't worried about a threat from New Zealand, or for that matter, anywhere in the South Pacific. While it is great that the flights had picked up, and very recently at that, with thousands stranded and sleeping in airports, I also feel that it was an offense to a people who had no threat to American aviation and sovereignty. But then, common sense!?, us?!, never!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif When Abdul checks in, then we'll do some thinking.

The place was packed and was grateful that I wasn't a part of it. It was crowded as many were just now able to go home, I am sure the planes were full. YUCK!

Popped in the Duty Free shops and then a very easy and relaxed immigration and customs. Another stamp. The baggage (re)claim area was desolate. Nice compared to the madhouse last time. Customs was the usual put your bags through the security machine. He asked if we had any wood(as to coming from the Cooks)!?, no, no problem. Very friendly and easy.

We rented another car from Avis, took 2 seconds. Exchanged some more money, then drove over to the domestic terminal. UGH

The mistake, compared to before, was that the place had changed in the last 4 days. New Zealand, previously to 9/11, had no security checks on domestic flights. Crazy, but to be honest, nice. It also was a compliment to the people of New Zealand. If no security, then it is a testament of their honesty and good nature. Unfortunately, no more. Had we come over a couple of days earlier(who knew?), we could have gone airside, there were no barriers, and close access to kiwi 737's. Now, full security machines, pax only, and very different.

I like the domestic terminal. It is smaller, very Irish. It is a transplant of Shannon, in some way. The signs are almost the same as in Ireland(except no Gaelic) .
Interesting. The test for me was at the QF New Zealand terminal. Small, but open. I wanted to go hit the lounge. Thank goodness, security, unlike on NZ domestic, was right at the gate. Hence, I could go upstairs and to the lounge. Flashed my Platinum card and unlike last year(they let us right in last year), wanted us to be flying. I asked for leniency, being NZ, they showed us leniency. We stayed for a little bit. Had a couple of drinks, watched the news, and they have some decent tidbits to eat. I swear they put our (US) airlines to shame. There was way more food there, at this cozy domestic lounge, than I have ever seen in an Admirals Club(shameful!) and good food at that.

I did a major postcard puchase, along with some other trinkets, spent some $$$$$$$ good airplane pics, as well as kiwi pics.

With that, it was a stop at a HUGE Foodland(market chain down there), picked up some goodies, and then hit McDonald's, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif))))))))))

We were both exhausted so knew we weren't going out that night...

We did a quick drive around AKL and then over to the Hilton. Unfortunately, by checking in so late, lost access to the good rooms http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif, so we were several floors down and hence, much less of a view of the city, but still nice. Room and bathroom were the same.

It was a night of catching up on the news, wanted to see everything, were nearly incommunicado for the last few days. Great to see CNN again...

Also, I will briefly mantion here, then close. Air New Zealand was having a major financial crisis, one of our concerns out there, we could be stuck!?
Their stock price on the Auckland exchange was almost nothing.
ANZ owned Ansett Autralia. AN was losing AU $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ big time.
Kiwi pulled the plug on AN.... Aussies were majorly (pissed) and was a disaster.

The Aussies showed their thanks to their Kiwi cousins by blocking all ANZ planes at Australian Airports. Lot's of fighting going on(at check in in Australia) and as there is already tension between the 2, this had put them over the top. Go and watch a rugby match between them http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. During the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics, the Australians booed 2 countries(to my utter amazement!): Indonesia(over East Timor, understand) and New Zealand. I think that shocked the world, but then if people elsewhere even give a hoot.

Helen Clark( sweet lady), the NZ Prime Minister, was on her way back from an official trip to Europe, via Asia. I was amazed she didn't have her own plane. She flies commercial-Air NZ plane.
That is hard to imagine. These people really don't have security concerns, do they!? One dagger I have for her, thanks to my kiwi friend's info, she had pulled the plug on the Kiwi Air Force, stupid move. Forcing NZ to rely on Australia and the US. We are there for them, they know that, but should have kept the Air Force. We may need them someday to help out in a conflict.

Anyway, she was leaving Melbourne and the Ansett employees at MEL blocked her airplane(talk about some balls!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) I was flabbergasted.
Even John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, was powerless to help, which amazed me even more so. They had to send out a plane, some old, decrepid NZ Air Force prop, not sure what kind, to come pick her up.
Is this a joke? Maybe it was karma for killing their Air Force!? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The idea that the Australian Gov't didn't(or couldn't) go in and intervene to get her out told me all I needed to know about the nemesis between the 2. OUCH!
She did get home, but the New Zealanders were pissed at their Aussie cousins, and that is an understatement. Could you imagine if the Mexicans blocked our President's plane?! The Aussies, in turn, are fuming over the loss of Ansett, with I am sure, Qantas smiling. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif People were stranded all over the country. I still don't understand why Ansett had lost so much $$$$
when there are 2 major airlines in the whole country, with a 3rd-Virgin Blue, going to a few cities on the East Coast. Anyway, more on that later, as you will see.

My friend from Hamilton couldn't come up, quite a distance from AKL, we got in so late, not worth it, but sad. More news, then bed..........

I am enjoying your reports. One question...I could be reading it wrong, but is your fiance the woman Gail you went to visit in NZ?

Oh, Ansett!! *sniff*
Bringing back lots of memories here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif But an enjoyable trip report nonetheless, that's been bringing a smile to my face http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Keep it up cobber!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pointsgirl:
I am enjoying your reports. One question...I could be reading it wrong, but is your fiance the woman Gail you went to visit in NZ?</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Hi Pointsgirl, thanks for your support.

No, that was a long term friend of mine, we met in a chatroom. We somehow jokingly called each other wife and hubby, etc. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

She thought she was safe, then instead of South Africa, went down there to NZ last minute and she freaked http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. She is about to marry a man from up here in California, and she is just a good and dear friend.

My fiance, also met online, we had written, fell away, then in the Cook Islands, that is when she wrote to me, BING BONG http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. After September 11th, the world is going nuts,
and her letter had an affect. She invited me to come visit. I did http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Engaged after... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

You'll be hearing more about her http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by trentis:
Oh, Ansett!! *sniff*
Bringing back lots of memories here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif But an enjoyable trip report nonetheless, that's been bringing a smile to my face http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Keep it up cobber!</font>

Thanks for the support! Sniff, agree. We saw all the Ansetts parked at the side, ouch!

You're gonna love the next parts...

Take care and thanks...

PART 6, QF 747-300 AKL-SYD, BUSINESS

Ok, first, a tangent, if I may. My friend Brian called and had me record(since was out at the time) the "Amazing Race." Highly recommend! They are flying from Brazil, via Europe, to South Africa. Incredible airport pics ever and I am salivating! Will have to copy over to keep... Maybe an fyi for you to keep an eye on this show, those who can.
_________

Ok, wake up at our lovely Hilton in Auckland. I am mad about the lack of view, nothing like before. I talked to my "kiwi wife", if you will. Again, just to clear up as someone had asked, just a friend/penpal, different from my actual fiance, who had questions for me when she saw this http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Yowsa.

We checked out the pool, small, outdoor lap pool, with the door locked and it cold outside, couldn't go see it up close. Decent work out room, did I use it? ah, no http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. No comments please. Too busy eating chocolate anyway, LOL.
Hey, I had my swimming at the Cooks.

We did stay in the room longer to catch up on the news, and on 2 fronts.
9/11, but also the Ansett/Air New Zealand deal. Boy, was that going big!
Ansett was having its life sucked out of it, the kiwis were getting blamed, and I would think that any Kiwi/New Zealander(Kiwi said in fun, as you know, as Aussie is said in fun, as you know...) would be crazy to go to Australia right now... It would be like us Americans going to Mexico after one of our policemen in LA beats up on an illegal....oohhhhhh revenge is coming...

We did a nice tour of the city before leaving, a little odd sightseeing. Didn't feel like eating, sometimes I get like that before a good sized flight, and before leaving someplace special. The Skytower has a nice buffet, as well as lot's of good shops and what have you. Last year, we did the full tour, and spent major $$$$$$$$ on souvenirs and NZ trinkets..... As I said, I have a wall in this room plastered with Kiwi postcards, need I say more? like my NZ pens, souvenir pins, and the "All Blacks" doll I gave to my sis, whom last time I had checked couldn't find it, GRWL! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Hey, I carried that a long way, SIS. Note to Gail, Springboks(South Africa) can kick the All Blacks.......... oh, hi, ok... but you do owe me a chocolate cake!!! dear!!! Said, of course, with respect. I would probably root for the All Blacks in most other cases, except........... Smile... Ok, if they play Zimbabwe, I will root for them, LOL.

We passed on the Skytower as it was cloudy (and when is it not in Auckland? LOL ) and we have been there, done that... as for the buffet, too much food. Will snag from the Qantas lounge later. FYI, it is a good buffet and cheap with the exchange rate. Just don't be a gluton http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. (Sorry, spoken carefully, I prefer the food in Oz, please don't kill me kiwis http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ).... I know, that is a very dangerous statement to make....

We listened to some talk radio and made our way to the airport, filled up the car with petrol, bought some NZ candy and goodies. Also bought a tv guide-GEEK, I know. I collect those. What can I say? Not ours, but from abroad. I have the South African tv schedule marked online, geeeeeeeek.

We parked it(no, not like that! LOL) at an observation area and watched planes take off. Tons of planes going to Asia, Thai 777, Singapore 777 (if I am correct on all these?!), etc... Malaysian something. I had my coveted ATC radio( I know, GEEK), so could hear the tower and the pilots. I thought of that non-existant legroom for the pax in coach on Singapore. It is like a 9 hour flight, have fun http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. I also thought of the beef satay onboard, give me!

Returned the car and then wheeled the bags to the opposite end, to my beloved Qantas. Like Air New Zealand, they have their own private check in for First and Business. The (bloody) irony, if you will, is that there is nothing like this in Australia. Funny, eh? It is nice, private, spacious, and the staff are great. Those pee-on coach people check in outside, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

Had to pay that icky departure tax, you know, I really could have used that $22 NZ for, ah, like chocolates... fyi, about $11US. They really need to just include these in the cost of the ticket. Also, they have a special customs officer who checked us out, confirmed the forms and all, but unlike ANZ, which is fine, no special access to upstairs. We had a while and I had budgeted time to go play landside(pre-passport control). More priority tags.

The groundfloor-departures and arrivals of AKL is very basic, ok. However, go upstairs, and there is a nice range of shops, Duty Free, food court, gift shops, bars, and a good observation area-both of inside the airside area of the terminal and the planes/field. Your relatives can go airside, then stick their tongues out at you that they are traveling, and you are not. However, we can stick our tongues out at them saying, ha ha, you have to go through customs and we don't! LOL So, it balances out. I have felt both ways, fyi. Sometimes I dread customs and I see the people in the public area and am envious. If I am in the public area, I am jealous of the people traveling. What can you do!?

I bought a fair amount of souvenirs at one of the main bookstores, including a large and colo(u)rful picture book of New Zealand. Also bought myself and a replacement for Brian-NZ sticker/car tag. He has one on his car, that may have actually, subconscioulsy, lured me to NZ, you never know.

We checked out the observation area and also looked at the projected model of the new airport, planned in a few years. There was construction everywhere, but I am sure it will be nice when it is done, then again, I like it as it is. Finished up our shopping and then it's go time. FYI, several Air Kiwi planes to Australia, and for some reason, more so to Melbourne, were being delayed. Guess the Ansett people in MEL were being more nasty. Wreaked havoc into NZ's Trans-Tasman schedules. Bad show.

With some of the work done downstairs, passport control was easy. Fast track/Express lane and to the cute female officer. I had to have a stamp, NZ P/C, unlike Australia, doesn't give departure stamps, so I go annoy the customs officer for a customs(vat) stamp, he obliges. Not the same as the Immigration stamp, but shows date and airport, departure, I am happy. Now some idiot somewhere will probably stamp over it. Someone stamped over one of my pre-handover Hong Kong stamps, it was a US officer, was not happy!!!

-6

Security, suprisingly, was the same. Back in the departure hall. Checked out the Duty Free's, done that to death, then the Qantas lounge! Heaven!

The Qantas lounge at AKL is nice. It is huge, it is fun, it is a playground for lounge lizards. The thing is gigantic, probably one of the largest lounges in the world. The Business class lounge is nice, next door is First(sliding door), I want in! Better showers and amenities over here.
Yes, that is where all the good food is. She argued with me, as usual!, as we were in Business Class seats, but had First Class tickets. UGH We argued, I won, we went in. Did I resent her for wasting my time when I do in fact know it all ??? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif)), yes. LOL She was a sourpuss. She belongs at the BA lounge at Heathrow, no offense. (fyi, the BA lounge staff at Heathrow can be just about as anal as humanly possible) However, they are wonderful at Manchester. Go figure. Also, Lufthansa at Frankfurt, more so am Senator lounge, give British Airways-LHR, a run for their money, that, I can assure you.

This place is great. Computer terminals, so more e-mail, and free this time. In the Cooks cost $$$. Good food, beverage, etc. They have cold cuts, cheeses, chocolates, no kiwi beer for Brian!, ha ha, so he went Aussie on that one. Can ya say Fosters? No Steinlager, poor Brian!!! They did have good NZ mineral water. Not that any of those fell into my bag. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif)))))))))) Hey, can drink it later.... I did get a little restless as the flight was delayed, hey, got bored after a while, we gave ourselves too much time...... I did a few walks around the lounge, caught some news, then back into the terminal. Found a good book on the history of NZ aviation. Mine!
Plus, an outgoing NZ candy bar.

It is time to board and here comes that emotion from leaving. There is that weird transition when you go from NZ soil to an Australian plane. I think everyone turns into Aussie or something. It happens when I go from the UK to Ireland. I swear the Britts either just dissapear or get rid of their accent, as I don't hear them anymore. Same thing coming back, the Irish seem to dissapear(or their accents), when we hit British soil. Realistically, I don't think Kiwis fly Qantas, and I don't think Aussies fly Air Kiwi, that would be a no no. As Americans, we fly whoever is cheaper or whoever gives the most miles. Or in the case of some, whoever gives out free alcohol, hmmmmmmmmm
he he he

The crew is friendly welcoming us aboard. I happened to sneak a peak at the manifest and even though I am on an award ticket, it does show my American Platinum/Oneworld Sapphire status, nice. All the perks and goodies, but in the end, no miles, oh well...... Hey, I tried.

The Qantas 747-300 has no First Class, but a nice Business Class in the front nose, 2 and 2 on each side. To be honest, I find this more comfortable and more spacious than the 744, which is packed with seats up front, but then those seats are dang nice. These seats are large, good legroom, and comfy, but not the 744 Heavenly beds. Whatever, it is about a 3 hour flight or so.
FYI, if you have a choice of Business on the 747-400 or 747-300/200, go with the 3/2, as it is nicer. Not big on the 744's Business, but then again, what do I know? ( this is where you say LOT'S!!! ) smile. In all fairness, when it comes to this stuff, I think I do know a lot, but whatever.

They came around with newspapers, headsets, no amenities kits http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif, and pre-flight drinks: the standard water, juice, and champagne. They announced our delay and I kinda thought, what the heck!?, this is comfy, and we had no plans in Sydney for that night, thankfully. I think our delay was as long as the flight.

The crew were friendly, but nothing like coming down. I think something happens magically in First. Oh, and both of us have 2 seats to ourselves.

Finally, push back, safety demo, but again, as we are in the front, no Qantas dance, just straight directing toward the exits. Dang... Did I mention that I love Qantas? Something about this airline, I just feel comfy on them. I love the Aussie accents, they are friendly, casual, and I feel safe on them, for some reason. They are one reason to stay in Oneworld, let me tell you. ( They also so put AA to shame, disgusting).



[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 03-23-2002).]

-6

We did the standard taxi out, an emotional farewell to NZ, cry! (I didn't cry, sorry, but was sad to leave). We started rolling and we had a good view, right hand side, of the Airport. Took off West to East, perfect. The plane then does a full turn around heading West to Oz. So, I had a perfect view of the airport and now I get a great view of the city, and hence, my beloved Skytower, lights flashing and all. Cheerio Auckland. It is weird as now it is dark, but was daytime when we pulled out of the city. ugh... coming out of winter for them, so the days go fast. Into the clouds, over the coastline, now it is all Tasman Sea, according to the IFE, that I can't live without.

They had decent movies, sitcoms, and the Aussie paper is humungus, as I want to read all about Ansett and get the Aussie viewpoint of the whole thing, seeing how it differs from the Kiwi viewpoint, not that they would ever be any different, SMILE.

Come on mates, you are both cousins, shake hands, kiss(if she is cute http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ), and make up. Actually, as children of "mother England", if you will, we are all cousins.... right Canada? eh! throw in the English descendants in South Africa, and you have one big happy family... Well, we try.

Ok, dinner. Unlike in First, it is less fancy, but good. They did the old fashioned put everything on a large cart and wheel it to you. Canadian and Kenya Airways did this and I loved it. Makes sense. Pick and choose, as you wish. To be totally honest, I have no idea what I had, but it was good http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
I can assure you, any chocolates served were well accepted and seconds, thirds, etc, were taken. I remember the usual cheeseboard, sorry, just not that much into it.... I am gonna take a stab and say some kind of beef, it was good. It is usually good on QF. Unless it is Asian or very good French, Italian, or Swiss(as in veal), I am probably gonna forget it.

I did my walkabout the plane. Clearly older. About half empty, which is nice. I think I find their coach section more comfortable as well, vs. the 744. Doesn't seem so packed. If there is an empty seat, I will usually sit down and try it out. Not that I would ever empty out the seat pocket or anything, or look in the magazine racks for any goodies to swipe http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Actually, wasn't much, sorry, but I did look. If I am correct, no colognes on this one, so, -1 for Air Aussie.

They dimmed the lights, so I did some reading, watched the IFE, and peeked at stars out there over the Tasman. The joy of coming into Australia is seeing the flight map with a little dot(your plane) approaching massive, monstrous Australia.

Flashback: last year on my first trip down under, we flew the nonstop LA-SYD, First, 744 ( AA miles). Long flight!!! 15 hours. dang.
They showed the flight map, I saw us coming to Australia, waited my whole life to do, stood in the rear of the plane, and shed a few tears. sob sob sorry, had to share. Yes, this is a cool part of the world. Again, these are our cousins, across a very big pond. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

We started our descent and the pilot annoucnes fog and cloud over SYD, boo! We came in over the coastline, and north of the city, but over or in the clouds, so couldn't see anything. Last year, we had the perfect approach. Right hand side, flew in right along Sydney(heart pounds!!!), with the Harbo(u)r Bridge all lit up. The flight attendant-male who had pampered me the whole flight, literally(they gave me a massive bag full of chocoolates and pretty much anything I had asked for), knelt down on the floor and played tourguide. There is Bondi Beach, etc., etc.... Loved it! Nothing like that this time. She was off on break most of the flight, so we were on our own. Back to First Class!!! Poor thing had to do some work on this flight.

We came out of the clouds, engines reving, and you could see the motorways(freeways to us yanks), lights, and pretty much the northern areas of Sydney. Flaps down, he turns left for a bit, then left again, heading West to East into the airport, a new approach. Ok, maybe a couple of tears, maybe.

We did a low approach over the surrounding areas of the aiport, but to me, looks like California, not joking, except these crazy people drive on the WRONG(read left) side of the road.

Plane touches down, engine reversal, and I am back in Australia...
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH When the plane turns around you have the perfect view of SYD downtown, the brother or sister to Vancouver. I love Vancouver. Both have a very similar skyline, a ton of blue and red lights all over the place. Go and compare. Any Vancouverites here? extremely similiar features, with alot of California going on here, but again, that driving on the left, has to go.

We park at the Int'l terminal. Can see the QF domestic and the EMPTY http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif Ansett terminal, sorry mates.

A quick goodbye to the crew(ah, you didn't do much on this one) and into the jetway. Sydney, like much of the world now, unfortunately, does the arrival, departure separation thing. Hate that. You are taken down to sterile walkways, but very clean and immaculate. They really did fix the airport up for the Olympics. I do love the arrival Duty Free, an ingenious concept.

Ok, I was more emotional last time, now my 2nd, so was already de facto for me. The negative, we did the faux pas by being about 3 hours late, of arriving when the London flight arrived, bad move. These people, and I don't blame them, are on the defensive over mad cow disease, they were even handing out leaflets against mad cow disease(dang Britts! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ). Note to self, do not arrive when planes from the motherland arrive, too much customs.

Immigration was quick and painless, got to use my electronic visa.
You arrange it with the airline, over the phone, takes 2 seconds, one of the easiest visas in the world to procure, thank you! I hate visas and guess the Aussies knew that of me, LOL. She stamped my passport, thank you, but pulled a naughty and sent me to secondary inspection, no thanks. With New Zealand, everyone takes their bags to X-ray. In Oz, most, I would say do. I just consider it a waste of time, as I came in from NZ for whatevers sake. If you need customs from the kiwis, oh boy, as they are about the most protective on the earth, which is good for their agriculture. They had mountains of Australia customs officers, some dogs included, all over the baggage (re)claim. I know, London flight, so they were def. on the defensive. I am curious if we had arrived before the London flight, would it have been easier? I am guessing yes.

Exchanged money at the desk and bought a phone card, hey, he convinced me. Never used it, but it is a cute souvenir. He was cool!!! Very nice and could joke around with him. No offense, but the Aussies are a little bit friendlier. Sorry, don't want Gail to kill me, but have to slip it in. They are more outgoing, is that fair? Love it!! love Australia... Waltzing Matilda and all, mates.

Bags came, onto the cart, now what? They see my pretty landing card and send me to(customs) an X-ray machine, ok. Way down there. He lets my Swissair carry on bag go, the AKL Duty Free bag(filled with newspapers, really), and everything else gets checked. There was something in each bag that had set something off, UGH. We checked. My guess, the flashlight(torch), electric razor, and something else electric. Customs, electric? Who cares? I thought you were looking for other things, things which I don't do, I am a good boy...

He was very friendly, let the other bag go, and chastized me for not declaring my chocolates on the customs card. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, not a big deal. Was to him. "DECLARE ALL FOOD, LOLLIES AND ALL." The thing was, he was nice about it, you couldn't hate him. I can hate US and Canada customs people, more so ours, can't hate him. He did take a cheap shot at the kiwis, sorry, I laughed, dang they hate their neighbo(u)rs.

With that fiasco over, I was excused. I would rather this happen now, than off a long flight. I am also glad that this didn't happen on my first trip to Oz.
Last year, when I came out of customs, which I was waved right through, yeah!, a couple of tears had dropped as I had entered the arrivals area. It was an accomplishment. Now, I got stopped at customs, boo hoo! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Not the same feeling, but then I have already made the trip.

We did the Avis thing, again. She was dang cute and friendly... smile...

I ran upstairs for a quick look. The place just dies out in the evening, but good to be back. We dragged the bags out to our new home on wheels while in Oz. Brian did the driving and we were at the airport Hilton in 2 minutes. I figured why bother going into the city the first night, I love the view of the planes from the hotel, and yes, the more selfish reason,
HILTON POINTS!!! AH HMMMMMMM yeah, my family has long ago caught on to why I want to stay at certain hotels. Can you say Marriott in Vegas??? They were very suspicious of that one. The Hilton in the city is old and overpriced. Stay away from it.

Quick check in, upgrade please, and a cool porter( Chinese with a perfect Aussie accent, I like that) took us up. I like the Chinese, and his tip reflected that, more so if he is from Hong Kong, also a part of the British family...

Now, time for more news, Aussie style. We had caught up on the Ansettt deal, way more flack than I had seen back in Kiwi, these people were pissed!!!

I called home, the US was still there, thank goodness, and all was well. Well, as good as can be, taking all into account.

We are in Sydney..............

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
No, that was a long term friend of mine, we met in a chatroom. We somehow jokingly called each other wife and hubby, etc. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
</font>

Ok now I understand!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif thanks again for your support and to everyone who dabbles in a quick comment. It tells me that people are reading this behemoth. I know it is long, but is serving about 3 different interests, with F/T taking a priority. smiles.

Dabble, dabble, dabble...keep 'em comin'.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Nanook:
Dabble, dabble, dabble...keep 'em comin'.</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Hi Nancy and company. Thanks! I will do Sydney tonight. I need to check all over the place on FT, then tonight, will sit down and cover Sydney and if time permits, our day trip to Brisbane, which was fun!!! cheers all...

You've said before that you have posted your trip reports elsewhere yet why do you now say that you have yet to write them?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Seiple:
You've said before that you have posted your trip reports elsewhere yet why do you now say that you have yet to write them? </font>


&gt;&gt;&gt; Skytrax, but a much, much, much more abridged version. I have the menu over there. (www.airlinequality.com) -opinions, -Qantas... I actually have several commentaries over there if you care to take a look. They edit and the reports must be small, which takes away too much info.

FYI, will add an itinerary with aircraft reg's(when I find it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) and atleast one of the menus... Will try to have the next round by tonight-was exhausted last night, along with having company from Spudland(read Idaho)... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Plus, there were the Oscars... Dinner with them tonight.

On a tangent, there was a small fire here in Malibu and they had the LA County Fire Dep't helicopter hovering by the beach( I went to a different area-private beach to jog). Cool helicopter!!! Would love to take a ride on that puppy... Nice color scheme as well.


[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 03-25-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
I did get a little restless as the flight was delayed, hey, got bored after a while, we gave ourselves too much time...... )</font>

How much time should I schedule my visit to The Wing (CX) in HKG and the Terraces (BA) in JFK? I am going next week and I am scheduling in about 3 hours.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by francophile:
How much time should I schedule my visit to The Wing (CX) in HKG and the Terraces (BA) in JFK? I am going next week and I am scheduling in about 3 hours.

</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Ok, you stink! mon ami http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif LOL...

Try to ignore the jealousy. I will be at the Wing in 2 months... so there... LOL

BA at JFK, not that long. Atleast an hour for pure lounge time. They might serve dinner !? beforehand, then longer. Interesting.

CX Wing at CLK-HK, much more time, maybe 3 hours. If you have access to the First class
area( are you EXP???), then maybe more.

I will give atleast 5 hours outbound to SA for the Wing, there is also a new lounge called the Pier, DF shopping, and I have access to the Plaza(not bad) with PP.

Plus, if BA/QF?? have any lounges, as we are flying Oneworld, we can go there as well... I need to check on that...No, let you check on that and let me know... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

We'll talk before you go... I may give a shopping list of aviation goodies, if you don't mind... a bientot.

SYDNEY, PART 7 A

Ok, after a good night's sleep, we wake up to planes taking off and landing over at SYD. From our room at the Sydney Airport Hilton, we can see the planes after take off-those going long haul, with 747's flying right over the motorway(right smack in front) and to some fun and exciting destinations. Am I addicted to this? yes! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif You can also see planes taxxing and landing. The rarest was easily
the Air Calin A310(New Caledonia/Nouvelle Caledonie), which I just wanted to take home. Actually popped the idea in my head to go there, which is doable on a Qantas award. Has to beat New Guinea, right!?
Note to fiance, the windows were absolutely filthy! thought you'd like that one... he he he(hint, she hates that)

You can imagine every major airline that flies to Sydney going out at that time, and I was suprised that so many were leaving so early, but then I also realize they could be going onwards to New Zealand, Melbourne, Adelaide, and what have you, then back later in the day. Thai 777 to MEL anyone? They might have Satay .

I woke up at 5am, yes, with lot's of energy (Brian cringes at this very thought, I know!). I compounded the damage by openinng up a box of chocolate covered macademias that I had bought at Duty Free-Auckland. That, along with Perrier or Aussie mineral water!?, ATC radio on, and updates from CNN/Aussie tv kept me busy. Yes, lot's of talk on Ansett, so had to watch closely!!!

Well, the chocolates weren't enough so we ordered room service-Singapore noodles... yummmmmm !!! They were to die for and yes, I could have easily ordered a second round. Not to fear, more Asian cusine cometh.

My penpal from Melbourne called me... lovely Filipina girl living down there. She wanted to fly up and see me and with the Ansett deal, there was no way. Flights were fully booked. She had a ticket on Ansett to go to Perth-bye bye... Not gonna happen. It was good to get her personal take on everything going on and also her condolences on September 11th, which by the way, many Autralians, our cousins and then some!, echoed. I consider Australians more so cousins, as a Californian, as there is a very California attitude, close to the beach, a little more casual(read less anal http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ), etc....... So, I love Australia, I love Australians, and I love Sheilas... smile.....(sheila is an Aussie female, fyi) My penpal is cool and it was fun to talk to her.

We checked out, same cool porter(poor soul probably works all day!?), we left a bag each at the hotel for pick up prior to check in coming home. Yeah, I loaded it to the max, think it was stretching, and was happy to leave it behind. Could barely lift it... What you get for doing "Airport Shopping". ugh... FYI-the airport Hilton is a good hotel, good view of the airport. It is a bit on the older side, but the staff are friendly... they do have a pool, but kind of an older one, not enticing, sorry...so skipped it.

Brian did all the driving, as he is the master of the left side. I panick and will continue if you make me drive, again, on the WRONG side of the road, thank you... (:-P~~~)...

We stopped at the domestic terminal, hoping to get a free access to the Qantas lounge, which I have access to as an American Platinum/Oneworld Sapphire. Last year, like good Australians, they were laid back on that and loved it!!! This year, with Ansett and the clubs packed, had to fly out... oh well... I did try and she apologized..... gee, next time when I come back down under in 2007, LOL ... won't be that long, I love this place way too much... QF lounges are very good with food, food always coming out, they are spacious, and lot's of amenities... I would never pay for American's stupid lounge, Qantas, in a heartbeat. I may do it anyway, as I would then have access to AA's lounge, but much cheaper!!! duh...

Ah, a goody for ya... They had a major demonstration at the Ansett Terminal. Terminal was closed, so couldn't go in...The domestic terminals are large and spacious. Australia is now the only country in the world that visitors can go to the gates... The US used to be the leader in that, showing that American spirit, but now we have become anal like the Europeans, no offence... smile... We did do a tour of the terminal. They had a Qantas 744 at the gate, weird to see. With Ansett out, they needed major capacity domestically and with cutbacks to the USA, was doable. Good shops and very comfortable. I was mad about the lounge. Should I buy a full fare ticket, use the lounge, and then cash it in? I had thought about it, but not this time. We were there last year when flying to Brisbane. With a lengthy delay, we actually had spent quite a bit of time there... Note to remember,
Qantas lounges are the best in the world, period!!!

We played a game to beat the clock on the parking ticket, maybe an hour, not cheap, and then waved to the Ansett people. There were many of them, they are pissed.....If you have some guts, go and wave a nice, big New Zealand flag in front of them........ he he he he he(only if I had a death wish, thank you)...

-7

We had trouble finding the "Distributor", an odd name for a freeway that, well, whatever... Let's call it a motorway and made our way to Sydney.

Sydney is a wonderful city, well laid out, astethically (spelling?) pleasing to the eye... but too many one way streets. Brian is a very calm driver, unlike me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, and so it was interesting to see him get worked up with the one way streets and what have you. Again, on the left, adds to the challenge...

I would never drive in Sydney, I don't want to drive on the left, and apart from LA, Montreal(fun!) and a few cities, I don't touch the downtown... thank you...

Ok, we found the hotel, and not easy. Brian booked this one so he was hanging by a thread. I book most of the hotels but he thinks he has found something good,ok, we'll let him try... It was the Radisson, near Darling Harbo(u)r... The only negative, they need a front porch to park your car and load... UGH... I ran in, double parked, and found a valet/porter. We thru the bags out on the sidewalk and he took it... From there on in, it was a paradise.

The staff, a la usual culture Australienne, were incredibly friendly. Sometimes I would be amazed by the friendliness. Yes, Americans sometimes get suspicious of this friendliness. We usually get robbed or what have you from these type of people. Not down here. Amazing.

The room is like a suite, with a little kitchenette and a balcony with a decent(read not great) view. They had removed a building and there was a big hole a la WTC, but apart from that, decent... Again, the staff, incredible.
I called for towels for the pool. Fastest I have even seen anything delivered. I was speechless when he came up that fast.

The hotel shares the building with a condo, mostly Chinese people. By the way, the hotel is right near, if not in, China Town. As a Chinese food connoisseur(all my friends know that), this is a good thing.

There was a Hong Kong style bakery, yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, down the street. In Hong Kong, they have incredible pastries, like a pork bun. I bought quite a few and then we had to run them back up to the room. Yes, these people liked me...

We hit a Chinese resto down the street, very nice! Upstairs seating, comfortable, fancy. The food was nothing less than incredible! Fresh, tasty, and delicious. I wanted more... One of the dishes was a Mongolian Beef, oh my dang it was good. It was so good, we went back the next night. Next night was earlier, but food was again wonderful. I'd go back to SYD for this food, not LOL. Also did lot's of shopping on that street. Bought my boomerang(ok, second one) and one for my bro. Since I didn't have a girlfriend, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,
bought bro's girl friend a little Kuala bear. Bought my sister a kanga. Immitated Fight Club with the 2 at home before handing them over... Also bought my Aussie flag, now hanging on my door, across from my South African flag. I still need a Kiwi flag... Actually bought lot's of goodies and they were so dang cheap, including my new and current Kuala bear key chain, even says Australia on it... Yes, more chocolate covered macademias were called for, and eaten...

Being close to Darling Harbo(u)r, a fantastic place in and of itself, apart from Sydney, it was playtime. Kind of similar to Redondo but with many more shops, restaurants(restos), and a gorgeous view of the Sydney skyline above. You could see some of the planes after take off, what more could you want? They have a shopping center/re (below the Novotel) and nothing less than smashing. There was a poster of Sydney that I had wanted, but I will get it next time. There was no next time... Sad face... They also have a massive Aussie flag waving overhead, I love that... Shows the people really do give a darn about their country, I am impressed.

We did a fair amount of walking around the area and did the Starbucks thing. Had to have an Aussie hot chocolate(yummmmmmm) and I think I even found some chocolate, surprise, suprise... They had some int'l flags in the park nearby. They had a South African flag-I was happy. Ok, I didn't get there now, but that was a help. Although where we were is a 1000 times safer than any part of SA-no offence Astra... he he he

Ok, I am lumping all the Sydney stuff together and then will do the day flight to Brisbane separately.

Oh, for the hotel, before going on. I loved the pool. Fresh, cool-but not too cold, good for laps, and they had twinkling stars on the ceiling...
We later discovered the jacuzzi, weird location. Again, the service couldn't be beat and we had greetings, polite well wishes every time we came and left. I get that at small hotels in Europe, I don't think ever in America, but I could get used to it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Ah, Singapore(Sheraton) was also good...

As for TV, they had a good satelite tv system, with atleast 5 tv stations from Mainland China, that was neat. I can't even see those in HK, to my suprise...
Chinese soap operas, was impressed. Here in LA I can watch the HK news(Cantonese ) as well as Taiwan soaps and news(Mandarin). Yes, I watch the pics. I know 2 words in Chinese, but, as they say, a pic. is worth a 1000 words... I wonder if that ticked Brian off when I made him watch Chinese soap operas...

Coo ta wt36! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Great Trip Report!!

What was the name of the Rest you ate at in China Town? I ate a lot of food there while I was in Sydney. I agree that the mongolian Beef is very good.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

By the way, I am missing the homepage full of photoes from your trip! Can you please post the link http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Uli:
By the way, I am missing the homepage full of photoes from your trip! Can you please post the link http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>


&gt;&gt;&gt; I haven't done that yet... wait til finished, have to finish 7 Sydney, then 8 day trip to Brisbane and back, and then 9 home... Will then add itinerary with aircraft reg's and have a menu floating out there somewhere, will share...

I may not do pics on this one, we shall see... but I'll tell ya what, it is an idea for my South Africa trip... sound fair?

Let's go hit the ECC and clean them out http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
ciao and thanks for the support, all of you!

Good report....

Reads amazingly like a guidebook would.

funny, Seiple, I was just thinking the same thing. Maybe he can sell his story to Fodors. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by markbach:
funny, Seiple, I was just thinking the same thing. Maybe he can sell his story to Fodors. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

No, I was thinking perhaps he already writes for Fodors... that would explain the similarity and explain why Fodors is so good!

------------------
Jason Seiple
JAX

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Seiple:
No, I was thinking perhaps he already writes for Fodors... that would explain the similarity and explain why Fodors is so good!

</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Hey kids, thanks for the compliments. This is way too personal for Fodors. Most guidebooks put me to sleep, they give details, but not personal. Why I prefer an individual's perspective. I can't think of his name, but there is a book called World's Most Dangerous Places. Love it! I inhaled the entire Africa section...Also, the Lonely Planet, that is also good,again, Africa book inhaled. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I need to go finish Sydney. Did what I could then the dinner bell rang http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif (friends from out of town)... thanks for the support...

I think our comments went way over your head Michael. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

It is unfair to keep us waiting for so long for the rest of the story!

-7B

Sorry about the delay. Kinda left you kangas hanging http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Have you been practicing the Qantas dance whilst waiting? Do the safety demo, show the emergency exits forward, immediately jump OR turn around, point to the exit behind you. Give that beautiful Aussie smile in the meantime... I luv it...

Ok, back to Sydney. The next day we did a driveabout. Went out to Bondi Beach, and this is a must DO...No exceptions. The drive itself out there was great and I learned more about the masterpiece that is called Sydney. It was coming back that we had an incredible view of the city, bridge, Opera House, and all. I'll tell ya, it was golden... Again, would go back in a second...

For a Californian, most of us anyway, the beach is nothing new, obviously. I will tell you, this is a wonderful beach. The parking was a pain, the (stupid) machines didn't work and we actually had to move the car to find a machine that did work. The fines were hefty, no thanks.

They had the usual beach, sand, stores, shops, eateries, etc... What was weird, and this is where the English come in... If you have been to Bournemouth!?(Southern England, what I call the English Riviera), it was a duplicate, though warmer. Bournemouth was on our Euro/UK itineraries for many years, so I know it well and love it. I was amazed how similar it is and a Brittt, or more so an Englishman http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, would feel right at home. We looked at the eateries, wasn't too impressed. Took a walkabout up into the city. All very nice as it seems to be more of an exclusive area. No, we didn't swim, it was enough to look at it, feel the sea breeze, nice air, and carry me over til back to Malibu. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif No worries and fair deacum.

We did a walk up and found several cool eateries, internet cafe http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, and Russian import shops. The area is pretty much of a Russian/Jewish Orthodox neighbo(u)rhood. They had a shop with Russian videos. I took a look. If I had been back home, I might have bought one (on the US system-that helps http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) if they had English subtitles. I love to watch movies, listen to music, tv shows, et al, from around the world. Russia would be no exception, fyi... Though nothing compares with beloved French music.... Mylene Farmer et tous. (She is wonderful!) bezt French zinger....

It was a nice tour of the neighborhood. They had an internet cafe. Good ole slow AOL -internet. AOL is OK, hmmmm, when direct, but it just plain sucks on the net( and my fiance teases me about AOL all the time, :-P~~~ )... I ordered ( a couple ) of milkshakes and a sandwhich. Then we shared some chocolate thingy. Hey, it was chocolate. Caught up on the mail, which was plenty, with all kinds of things about September 11th being thrown around... Oh yeah, we get to go home to that... OH goody http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif... Future wife sent me a letter, put a smile on my face....Hey, maybe I will get somewhere with this Sheila, smile...

We stopped by a travel agency(love em! and unlike the airlines, support them! hmmmmmmm) and she gave me a stack of Qantas ticket jackets, coach edition. Big smile on my face. The agents at the counters at check in have been giving me some, but these had to be like 40 or so...nice... They had a model of an ELAL 747(old colo(u)rs) up on a bookcase, I wanted it, love those colors, but it was not to be. You may look, but don't touch... :-P~~ I have a small one anyway, so there...

SYDNEY
With that, we bid our farewells to Bondi and did some incredibly scenic driving. As I had said before, the view of Sydney... was too much, thank you...
We came in from the burbs(suburbs), went through downtown, and then, FINALLY, we got to the Harbour Bridge. This was cool as it is one of Syndey's great landmarks. At the end I will give a flashback to the previous year, but last year, we didn't have a car and didn't get to go on it, but then on the other hand, spent a lot of time below and could see the bridge and the Opera House, which we didn't get over to this year... Flashback coming up soon... by the way, Drew Carey(show) gave me the idea of the flashback. (big fan of his, Mr. Cleveland himself! ) GO CAVS!

We went to North Sydney and if I am correct, is Manl(e)y Beach the name? It was something like Manley. Very nice area. Radisson had a resort up here which sounded great, but then, other than maybe one night, it is too far from the city... Again, just to picture it in your mind, incredible scenery. Sydney is a lovely city. It has the cleanliness of most Canadian cities, but with the sun, warmth, and charm of Australia... Yes, most Yank(American) cities are too dirty, sorry... What, you want me to defend Buffalo!?, get real! LOL I do love LA(West LA) and everyone knows that... ad nauseum I am sure... Angeleno and Malibite and proud of it...

I remember major traffic coming back and then a well earned rest back at the hotel. I earned the right to more Chinese tv, more Hong Kong pastries, and like said before, we went back to the same Chinese resto, which for now, as someone has asked, I don't know the name, but will ask Brian. It is really on the major street of ChinaTown, about a mile beyond the Radisson( we walked it), so it is findable, but I will see what I can do.....Large yellow sign in front, and 2 story, with an escalator to the top... Upstairs is nicer...

That night we went to visit the Sydney Tower, sorry, don't know the actual name of it? We bought a pass on the monorail, good system, takes you maybe a block from the Tower, and I will tell ya, just ride the monorail itself, you will see so much of Sydney.....SMILE...

They had a tour down below, with a small wait... then up on top...

Ok, this is where I get into trouble, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, but these Sheilas are cute... dang cute!!! So many cute women in one place......I would say let's find Brian a wife, but I think he wants a Kiwi girl (Gail, hint! matchmaker!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) so he can have dual citizenship and a NZ passport....Queenstown and all....I want a Swiss passport, in case anyone has an extra?! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
Yes, these people are nice, their women are great.... SO IS MY BEAUTIFUL FIANCE!!! smile......... please, I don't want to get into trouble here, LOL...

Ok, they give you a nice tour of the history and contemporary aspect of Australia. You walk around to different exhibits, showing different aspects of Australian life and its history... Shows a man with his dingo(dog) in the outback, it is cute. Then you go to a theater/re, do the 3-D glasses thing, and watch an incredible video of Australia and more so Sydney... the seats move around like a light roller coaster, sorry, not quite Space Mountain at Disney... What is fascinating is that Aussieland was discovered by British convicts/criminals and the Irish they wanted to get rid of. Aussies should be proud of themselves for the country they have built up... they have created a masterpiece of a nation, and should be very proud of it.
I am proud of you, your Yank cousin across the big bad pond, which is well, too big and too far, otherwise, I'd be there all the time, QF and all! ...

They did a visual approach over the Harbour Bridge, with a nice view of the city, and I just loved that so much.....can't even tell you... I was sad when it was over.....

Short queue, then took the lift to the top level of the Tower. I won't even mention the cute Japanese girl on the lift/elevator, she was a tourguide... Missed the restaurant level, whichever one that is!?, and I think if I am correct, we had access to 2 levels... I will give you a hint, Mikey likes towers....Brian teases me about this, Mikey likes towers.... My family has gone nuts trying to get me down from the Eiffel Tower, on well more than one occassion...... hey, it was sunset, Paris... no way am I coming down!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

You can walk a 360 around the floor and see all of Sydney... It was incredible. As a fan of architecture, I am impressed with the different buildings, styles, and composition of the city... It gets bad when I discover the airport, smile... With the telescopes, you can see the actual Qantas 747 close up, almost freaky... I learned the layout of the city and the airport, but also the traffic patterns of the aircraft . You could see planes going into different directions, not that simple. Kind of like SFO(San Francisco), they have one long runway that goes out over the water, used for mostly widebodies, then another one, along the terminal, for the narrow body domestic flights, but they do switch... Planes were circling around the tower and with the telescopes, you had good views... and no offence, BUT THERE WERE NO SOUTHWEST 737'S BUZZING AROUND... I HATE THAT FREAKING COLOR SCHEME TO DEATH..... thank you.......

We bought some goodies(books and postcards) and did the final check. With the telescopes, you could see right into office buildings, and I mean right onto the poor guy's desk!, and inside workout clubs, no comment there http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, but they were closed anyway, was at night... In other words, the police could go set up police cameras and sit back and watch... The view inside a building, flats(apartments), what have you was incredible, and, scary..... Made me think of when the East Germans put up their "TV and Radio Tower" in East Berlin, sure, that is what it was for... smile...You could see down to the Sheraton below. They had a wonderful rooftop pool and was amazing how easily you could see the pool area(glass ceiling). We were down there a year ago and people were watching us splash around... ouch...Hey, ya never know who is watching!

Down the lift, back on the monorail, did the long way via Darling Harbour, but the shops were closed... I think another Starbucks( I am hooked, sorry) and back to the hotel for our nightly swim and relaxation... Yes, some of us do laps http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif and some of us don't like to get their hair wet(but I splash him anyway, he he he ) ...........

Ok, that takes of Sydney, though might have a little bit more with the day trip...... now, FLASHBACK...

Someday I may go do an actual trip report of our first trip down, but later...
In Sydney last year, around the time of the Olympics, made things exciting, we stayed at the Sheraton on the Park(gotta have them Starwood miles!) and
it was very nice... It was a decent(not great) walking distance to the Opera House and area... Briefly, we saw a different side of Sydney and got to visit the big Qantas ticket office, but nothing there to nick... oh well...
Sheraton lost me when their "executive lounge" was reserved for certain guests of a long term flats, etc., not for those of us pee on Gold card holders downstairs... so, bye bye Sheraton on the Park... though the service was good, I much prefer this Radisson......Gotta give me my lounge, lounge lizard and all, or I walk...

Ok, nighty night, go and play with a Kanga and the next round will be our day trip to Brisbane, then home............ QANTAS DANCE TIME!!! Boogie to some Aussie techno music... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Uli:
It is unfair to keep us waiting for so long for the rest of the story!</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; HA HA! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif enjoy, the next section should keep you people busy...

Jason: :-P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

He had to run out and buy the next guidebook...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Seiple:
He had to run out and buy the next guidebook... </font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; ah, yeah, sure, SNORE zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The beautiful fountains of the Majestical Palace of the 1800's were founded by King dipstick in the era of the idiocy...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

flashback to my textbooks... I gotta have action or I will fall asleep.... like in math 103 or whatever...........caught up on my sleep there... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Are you doing the Qantas dance??? BOOGIE!

Loved reading about Bondi! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I was living in Bondi last year and I must say I miss it.
The Sydney Tower you are referring to is actually Centerpoint, and as far as the restaurant level. You did not miss much. It was horrible. The food was OK, but I do not like sitting in strangers laps while eating my dinner (very crowded). Aside from that...they only give you 90 min to eat. My boyfriend and I kept checking our watches saying 30 more min, 20 more min...It was not fun!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Nice again!
I am really enthusiastic now about going to Bondi next week! I will send a postcard to you, Michael!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Uli:
Nice again!
I am really enthusiastic now about going to Bondi next week! I will send a postcard to you, Michael!</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif YHM

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Uli:
[B]Nice again!
I am really enthusiastic now about going to Bondi next week! B]</font>

I am very envious. Have a wonderful trip! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Great job WT!

Very interesting and enjoyable to read!

[This message has been edited by Bean (edited 03-28-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bean:
Great job WT!

Very interesting and enjoyable to read!

[This message has been edited by Bean (edited 03-28-2002).]</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Hey, thanks everyone and G'day mates to ya... You are gonna love the next segment SYD-BNE, is that the code? I got it wrong last time... QF 747sp up, Virgin Express 733 back... thanks...

SYDNEY-BRISBANE QANTAS 747SP PART 8A
OK, G'Day mates...

We wake up, ready, and out... By the way, a quick tacky mention here, I love the bathroom at this hotel. Big, spacious, comfy, separate shower. I love all the bathrooms in the hotels Down Under(Airport Hilton was standard). Sheraton from last year had a nice marble tiled shower, enjoyed...

We hopped in the car and made our way on the "Distributor" to the Airport.

Parked at the long term to save some money and I will tell you, not a bad view of the planes, airport, and all...Pulled out the ATC radio and listened while we waited for the slow bus... and a weird bus it is, whatever...

As this was the domestic leg of an int'l flight(on to Singapore), we had left from the Int'l terminal, which works for me, all the Duty Free goodies and all. Plus, we can freely visit the QF domestic terminal, save the lounge of course http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif. It is a pain to go to the domestic terminal, they are like separate airports, I would have gone there as well to hit the lounge.

Check-in, elite line, was fast and efficient. She was also sweet, unfotunately I didn't have any Qantas(AA SOS comment cards equivalent) coupons to give her, wouldn't do any good, so she is in my prayers, does that count? She really was sweet and impressive. Plus, she gave me a stack of priority tags and ticket jackets.
It was nice just to have carry on(though I paid for it later)...

As we'd be back here the next day to go home http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif , skipped the tour of the public area.
Went to airside. You get a D sticker put on your boarding pass, nice. For ID I used my drivers license, vs. the passport which of course I had(DUH), but it was nice that I didn't need my passport to enter the int'l area. The British and Irish also have this sense of trusting by mixing domestic and int'l passengers...
A sophisticated smuggler could do wonders here, but I won't help them...
They stamped the domestic sticker on the boarding pass and we were in. ( I am sure they keep control of the situation) They have cameras everywhere and know what they are doing.

This will all be repeated tomorrow when we fly home. I did a quick perousal of the shops and found a wonderful Swiss chocolate-Cailler(large chocolate blocs) that I love and planned on buying many, when I go home... and Duty Free at that!!! no import tax from Switzerland...

We hit the Qantas Club. The first class section upstairs is nice, but way too small, kind of confining... the club downstairs is huge, but very dark (and dreary), wouldn't spend too much time down there... The food was decent, breakfast, cereals, and all. The domestic clubs are the best, strange... They have their own terminal, hence, more room to play with.

It wasn't long before the flight was called, about 10am or so. Again, flight info given later. I also checked out the gift shops for things to buy tomorrow and lug onto the flight as carry on, as my checked bags were literally bulging!

With Ansett out, domestic flights were full. It was exciting to look out the window and see the glistening QF 747SP, my second in my entire life. 1st was a Pan Am 747SP on a joyride from SFO-LAX, half the plane-PA is Business with a little coach section in the back, yuck. The plane is fun to fly, though. Ironically, the plane went on to Sydney, so, here I am...

I did a quick walk around the terminal, nothing too special. BA 744-if you have been to Heathrow, you have seen enough http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Cathay, China Eastern(regulars into LAXative), etc... It was the same gate that I had left from last year, going to Auckland... hmmmm

Long lines/queues to board. It seemed half the plane was getting off at Brisbane, half was going on to Singapore. It is fun that we get to hop onto an int'l flight. Essentially, most of the Pan Am flights(widebodies) in the US were like this, very int'l, so we are used to this...

The crew was friendly and warm. It was exciting to board this plane. It is so small! I have always considered it like an egg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. They allowed me to take a quick peak into the front, I did try to upgrade, but full, would have to be. The rest of the plane is coach, Business in the nose.
Did a quick walkabout before sitting as I knew the flight would be short, about an hour or so.

I sat at the window, behind the wing, flaps, and all, best place to sit if you are going to sit in coach-which by the way is where I normally sit. Flaps and all. A cute Singaporean girl sat at the aisle seat, Singapore girl http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, and much to my surprise and pleasure the middle seat was empty... Ansettt???

We did a standard push back and taxi out... Yes, it was Qantas dance time, but I don't remember it being the entertainment that it was last time in Business on the 767s from last year. This was my first time in coach on them, not bad.

We taxied out, reved up the engines, and then a cool and sweet take off out of SYD. It is neat to leave and know that I am coming back that night.
The 747SP makes more noise, more bounce, more fun! I love it!

He did a full circle, over Homebush(Olympic stadium) if I am correct, 360, and flew over downtown Sydney. I was on the right hand side and had the most incredible view
of the downtown-Harbour Bridge, Opera House, and all. It was breathtaking. Truly one of the nicest views that I have ever had. For some reason, this one touched me more than usual. The 747SP has a habbit of climbing fast, so we were already quite high...

He turns left and heads north to Brisbane. The flight last year was at night with clouds and bad weather. This one was good, sunny, a few clouds, and we flew up the coast. To me, it looked like California. Blue water with brownish land mass. California. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I think NZ does take some awards on the scenery front...

They served a salmon sandwhich. The salmon was ok, bread was stale, and some biscuit/cookie. Nothing special. Not much for Brian as he doesn't do seafood. They served the same Australian mineral water that they have in the lounge(just threw the last can out not that long ago here at home). FYI, I saved the set of silverware, platic bag with napkin, and it "fell into my bag"... unfortunately, not for long... I was too lazy to ask, but usually, they let you have it. I am sometimes too embarrassed to ask. I knew that the knife would become a thing of the past, so it was valuable.

I did a quick "bathroom run" aka excuse to get up and go walkabout. The crew gave me some playing cards, stationary, and what have you. They were nice and friendly. Again, this thing is an egg....

-8A

The plane was comfy. Decent legroom, nice seat. If there had been a person in the middle seat, would have sucked. I have done the middle seat on a Pan Am 747, yuck..... 747s for Business/First & 777/767s for coach, simple.

I think I did try to get a Singapore newspaper, but to no avail. Oh well, such is life.

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the plane just starts its descent and the wing flaps come out( I love this part!) and they were LOUD. At the same time, they had some overhead contraption/compartment that they were putting back up behind us and that was LOUD as well. So, lot's of noise going on... but, I loved it... full flaps and we were going down.

The captain announced that they were having wind problems at Brisbane so to be seated, careful, etc... He wasn't joking. He did some harsh turns, banks, through the clouds, and boom, yeah, some major winds rocked this egg...

He straightened out and landed on the main runway, I would assume South to North, right side, facing the hangars. There was a lonely Ansett 747 over to the side, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif... tear drop.

After turn around you could glance at the domestic terminal, far, far away, and I had an excellent view of the new int'l terminal-nice, fyi...

Cathay A330, I think Malaysia something(777?), Kiwi 744,
and there was one other, sorry... we docked and the "domestics" were let off. I believe the int'l transfer pax stayed on board, as did my cute seatmate...

Usual Aussie separation between the departures from arrivals(so no lounge access), down a long bridge, into the arrivals hall. What I do like is that we were able to walk through the arrivals Duty Free area. All, very nice, modern, comfy. We stopped by the Int'l terminal briefly last year, was so impressed. Kind of like LAX Bradley, but nicer, more open, more airy. Kind of tropical.

We made our way to immigration. I wanted a stamp in my passport but Brian pointed out that we might have trouble leaving Australia tomorrow, so I let it go, which is a hard thing for me to do to pass on a stamp....
I was surprised how empty it was with the Cathay coming in.
He stamps the boarding pass and that is it, checking ID...

Walked past baggage claim and then customs. Everyone, just about, was being sent to secondary, sucks! We domestic pax had a separate exit-HA HA. He tried and in fact did take the boarding pass, but I explained that I needed it so he ripped the D sticker off and gave it back... Hence, back in the nice public area...

Again, the terminal is airy, bright, good colo(u)rs, welcoming. I love it.
We did some touring of the terminal, big time upstairs... Did my usual, annoying http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif perousal of the check-in areas looking for goodies to swipe... he he he They had a Canada 3000 flight (330) to Vancouver... those poor (and crazy) souls... I had flown C3000 (A320) that summer from LA to Vancouver and back and apart from the exit row, their legroom is ICK, but good service. Alas, they are gone now, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif.

They have a good observation platform over the departues area-airside. Will work on getting in there someday, want to see what their lounges are like. Being a new terminal, the lounges have to be nice... They have good eateries and lot's to do. They had a gift shop with airplane post cards and airline, ah, what do you call them?, lapel pins? put them on your shirt. I bought a few, I remember SAA, I think QF, AA(I have to be loyaal http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ), and a couple of others. They have a general Australian aviation magazine, that went as well.
Good aviation selection. I also bought some Brisbane postcards, aka, more wallpaper, he he he(enjoy fiance for our new home... )... She is against the wallpaper with postcards thing. This, will have to be worked out.

They have a brand new train that goes from the domestic terminal to int'l to Brisbane Central and then on, I think, to Surfers' Paradise. I want to go there!
The train is nice, new, modern, but the fact that they charge you to ride it normally is a negative. Something the Aussies are bad about, charging to go from one terminal to another, it isn't kosher... because we are transit pax with tickets, we get a free pass. Yeah! It is cheap, but the principle. It is a long distance between the terminals... I majorly GROWL(GRWL) when they charge pax to go between terminals or to go to the airport hotels, a la Heathrow. Quite frankly, it is just tacky and unprofessional. Sends a bad message to the int'l traveler. I am glad that the US atleast has this one right. We Yanks mess up in so many areas but we don't charge our people like this.(We get them with exhorbitant parking rates, right LAX?)

The ride is quick and fun. Take the bridge to the domestic terminal.
This is where we came to decisions, decisions... do we go to Brisbane?
Take an earlier flight? or what to do? We were scheduled on a Virgin Express flight back to Sydney.... We had given ourselves too much time. Oh, what to do!?

PART 9
BRISBANE TO SYDNEY, VIRGIN BLUE 737-300

G'day mates. Almost there. I do need to finish this thing.

We are at Brisbane Airport, checked in at Virgin Blue. No luggage to check in and it is a Southwest type of operation. Cheap ticket receipt and boarding pass, like the receipt at the local market. Brian paid for them online.

We asked about an earlier flight to Sydney. They were heavy and there was a fee to come back early, so stuff the fee http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

We had debated on going into the city, but decided not to. Been there, done that, although it is a lovely city. So, we'll stay at the airport and play.

We did a quick perousal of the public area, nothing much. No stores, shops, facilities, blah... I am glad they still allow everyone to go to the gates... If I had gone to the commuter terminal, they had inflight magazines over there last year, didn't make it this year. One of the Qantas links... oh well...

Remember, I swiped the set of silverware(would now be valuable http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif ) from the SP. Security took it away from me. Amazed me. They serve it to you on the plane, but confiscated it at security. Can you say stupid? I got more on the flight home from Sydney, but would have liked the package, napkin, and full set of coach silverware, with the knife being special, as Australia has banned those... ugh...

The security woman was a pain with attitude... so, thanks for nothing...

Next hassle was the Qantas Club... big irony... We flew in on Qantas, that meant nothing... ugh... we wanted to try Virgin Blue, new airline, and my first time for the Virgin family, though Brian has done the other 2.

She was ready to send me away, I was not pleased, and then when we showed her our First Class ticket home the next day, she let us in. She did us a favor, but I didn't like the attitude. It was too BA and anal, sorry...

It did help as we were there for quite a few hours...

As spoken previously, the Qantas Clubs are some of the best lounges in the world: large and spacious, comfortable, good food and drink, and usually, friendly attendants. We were there last year. Just flashed my American Platinum card and you are in, and they were great... Very nice staff... What happened?

One of the nice things, food kept appearing, and we kept eating it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. It wasn't bad either... little cakes, sausages, fruit, cheese and crackers, etc... it was all good. Again, due to the (crazy) Australian law, no drinks served til a certain time. We could have all we wanted airside at SYD, cause it was the int'l terminal. They finally did open up and then you could tell the bartender what you wanted. Free drinks, but controlled. Before the opening, water, orange juice, and some other kind of juice were available... They really should open the place up for soft drinks, juices, beforehand... What a contrast to when I went for a walk in Milan at 7am and people were already in the bars...

Caught up on some news, reading, and chatting with Brian.

It really is the only way to spend some time in an airport, if you must.

-9

We left to go tour the airport. They have some decent shops, gift and all. It is all domestic, so no Duty Free... If I didn't see the Qantas planes, could have easily been a US terminal http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif... Very Americanized...

I did tour the Qantas area. They put out headseats for the pax...those went in the bag... same as the Ansett ones last year... however, the entire Ansett area was closed... they put chairs and benches and blocked access, sad...
It was depressing to see the beautiful Ansett planes parked at the gates. Such a history and so much to lose. I am sorry Australia...

Then, to the Virgin Blue gates, very Southwest... They have 3 concourses at the domestic terminal. First is Qantas, then Virgin Blue, as well as icky Impulse-wheni it was around(more on them later) at the 2nd, then Ansett at the 3rd... they have the commuters downstairs at the sides of the Qantas and Ansett concourses.

I read until boarding. It was fun to people watch. The "Aussies" are a fun people. They smile and enjoy life more than most, I like that. Why I consider them our distant California cousins. The weather definitely plays a part in all this. People were happy and it was a positive atmosphere. Ah, I have just remembered, I had picked up a copy of the Hong Kong South China Morning Post, was reading that, and was good.

A surprise came up when an "American" woman made an announcement. That had so blown me away. All the time, foreigners are working in our country, but you never see Americans elsewhere, and isn't fair to say the least. It was nice to hear an American/Yank voice and I would have said hello, but she was busy at boarding...

With that, the announcement was made and we went downstairs, gave them the cheap Southwest style paper receipts(realizing WN has firm boarding cards, but cheap tickets, sorry) and outside in the fresh air, felt good.
We were able to board from the rear stairs so as an aviationist, (read airplane geek http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ), it was wonderful to walk under the 737-300 and then board from the back. We grabbed the back 2 rows, right hand side. I had the last window seat, Brian was in front of me. The "stews" were cute, friendly, and laid back, loved it! Was hoping to have the middle seat open and I got lucky. A cute, young girl sat on the aisle and I shared my newspaper with her, she just wanted something to read. I was impressed that she would be interested in the Hong Kong paper...she was also friendly...

I enjoyed the safety announcement and casualness of the crew. Again, Southwest, but more professional, very much like our PSA, which I miss dearly... The plane taxiied out, was already quite a distance from the terminal, and toward the runway. Plane took off South to North, had a quick glance at the Int'l terminal, the bridge near the airport, and then the hangars as we took off, nothing special. Had we gone the other way, we would have had an incredible view of the city, which looks like Fort Lauderdale, etc...

It was nightime so all dark all the way to Sydney. There were a few lights that popped up, but nothing special. The white light from the rear of the wing was annoying, to say the least. Nice leather seats, by the way. You could tell they were from Virgin Express in Europe, with signs in English, French, and Flemish(Belgian Dutch), sounds Belgian to me...

The seat pocket included the magazine, safety card, air sick bag(all the same in Australia, and big at that), and some catalog for items to purchase on board, as well as for drinks and snacks, also purchased on board, like Virgin Express in Europe. I was stuffed from the lounge and had my precious water bottle with me, so I was good. However, the cute girl next to me did offer to buy me a drink, which was sweet. I politely turned her down, but I was impressed by the offer. No American girl on a plane has ever offered anything like that, save my mom http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. 2 points to Australia for that one and their Sheila... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif In the US, the men pay for everything and the women gladly accept. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif It was my German friend(groundbabe http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) when we were in Stockholm who was the first woman, other than mum-thank you, who had bought me dinner. It was McDonald's at the Stockholm Airport, but will always remember. My fiance has actually bought me dinner, Olive Garden, so I am doing something right. Women, this is a good way to get points with a guy, if even just to offer, knowing that male pride will set in and he will pay anyway, lol.

We started our descent and the flight attendants prepared for landing. They chatted with us a bit and were just so friendly... You know, if I had to live here, it wouldn't be a bad thing... Everyone is so nice, and I love it!!! I go to Europe and get a bunch of very dirty looks from people for being American.
What a difference...

We came in from the North and swung around downtown, just as we had done a year ago from LA... We flew right over the city, Harbour Bridge, and then made an approach from the Northeast. The Airport is quite close, so you can see the beautiful red/blue skyline as you are coming in to land... I love this approach... We touched down alongside the domestic, then int'l terminals with a quick taxi back. Seeing all the QF 747s, knowing that it would be us tomorrow... In 24 hours it is all over, yuck!!!

We were able to exit from the rear exit again, loved it!, and then walk across the tarmac. The previous year we had had a very negative, to say the least, experience on Impulse( a 717), and all that came back to me, and then some... ... I guess that it was a good karmic thing to walk on that tarmac and rid myself of the "Impulse Experience", was nasty and had left a bad taste for Australia in my mouth...
Anyway, that was now behind me... thank goodness...

Entered the basic terminal, swiped some timetables(rare), and out to the shuttle to the long term car park... It was cool just to stand there at the dark car park and watch the planes, see the stars, and look at the Sydney skyline... I thought about South Africa and how much safer and more relaxed we were in Australia...

We drove back to the city, gave ourselves a nice ride, then back to the hotel... We walked back to Darling Harbour(love this place) for a nice Thai dinner. It was outside, windy!, and had a great view of the skyline... The food was absolutely incredible, though the wind was blowing things around...
It was great to be back in SYD, almost like a new home...

Another swim in that nice pool and jacuzzi, relax time... More Chinese soaps and caught up on the news...

With that, we are ready for the last part-the trip home... I will include an itinerary with all the registrations and all the relevant info...
Thanks for reading... Michael...

Very enjoyable report. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:

As spoken previously, the Qantas Clubs are some of the best lounges in the world: large and spacious, comfortable, good food and drink, and usually, friendly attendants. We were there last year. Just flashed my American Platinum card and you are in, and they were great... Very nice staff... What happened?</font>
Was the QC jam-packed when you were there? Story is that they are filled to overflowing, and staff have strict orders to keep people out. What happened? Ansett folded and QF flights are full to the gills. Unexpectedly having 80% market share has its problems (luckily international demand was down so they could redeploy some 744s for domestic service, and buy some AA-ordered 737-800s on short notice).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pointsgirl:
Very enjoyable report. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; cheers lass, appreciated http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. The next one is the last one and will be big... Will be a late night for me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif... thanks...
How are you doing?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by number_6:
Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:

As spoken previously, the Qantas Clubs are some of the best lounges in the world: large and spacious, comfortable, good food and drink, and usually, friendly attendants. We were there last year. Just flashed my American Platinum card and you are in, and they were great... Very nice staff... What happened?</font>
Was the QC jam-packed when you were there? Story is that they are filled to overflowing, and staff have strict orders to keep people out. What happened? Ansett folded and QF flights are full to the gills. Unexpectedly having 80% market share has its problems (luckily international demand was down so they could redeploy some 744s for domestic service, and buy some AA-ordered 737-800s on short notice).



&gt;&gt;&gt; Hi. No, I wouldn't say packed. If you have seen Admirals at Miami, that is packed http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. They were heavy, but you could find a seat. It is when you can't find a seat that I get annoyed. Ansett just went out at the time, so now I figure it is worse... Plus, I am going to take on a Qantas Club membership, cheaper than AAdmirals, so that should do the trick...

Great report. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Ok, I am working on the last part, should have some on tonight.

FYI, we have decided to bag South Africa and go back to Australia. Am I in love with Oz or what? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Cathay and Qantas within. So, you'll get another Aussie trip report in 2 months, should I ever recover from the jetlag, grwl...

Will have some on here tonight. ciao and thanks. Michael

QANTAS 744 SYD-LAX FIRST
PART 10, FINAL

Hey everyone, let's go and wrap this up. When I find all the relevant info, will do the itinerary with aircraft reg's, etc., etc., etc. ....
_______________________________
SIDENOTE AND TANGENT:
Lifelong dream came true yesterday when my little bro got me into the
filming of the final Friends tv show episode for the season. FYI, and much to my sadness, this show will conclude next year, probably putting me into a depression http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif. Well, close to that anyway, :P... It was so cool to see it and to see these wonderful people out there. It was fun and we had a good time, needless to say, it has put a smile on my face so I am happy...It is a good episode and you will like the outcome. Thanks my precious little bro! By the way, you need connections to get in there now, very strict as to who gets to watch the shows getting taped.
________________________________

Ok, final day of trip in Sydney... Woke up to packing, watching the news, afterall, we are now coming home to the mess. Brian went off and did a walkabout while I did that packing thing. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I always collect too much junk while on the road, and still have a bunch of this left to unpack here at home... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif wide smile.

I wanted to do a last run to the Chinese Restaurant, fyi, has the name Golden in it, in case that helps, as someone had asked.
Check out was quick, friendly, and painless. Brian took care of it, :-P...

Did that final drive through the city and out to the burbs to the airport. After filling with petrol, we did a tour of the area and found a cool place to watch some planes. We had to go back to the Hilton to get the bag. The (bloody) thing weighed a ton and was curious to see what Qantas would do with it.

After parking our "ride", we got to wheel our belongings on the free luggage carts(anywhere but the USA, ugh) to the terminal. Avis rep. was gorgeous, sweet, and friendly... no further comment.... smile...

Now, for the new check-in changes since 9/11. Prior to 9/11, check in would have been quick and painless. Our beloved FAA mandated certain new requirements, and these are not necessary for a bunch of friends from Australia... oh my... We queued for nothing in the normal First Class line and were relegated to the pee-on NEW US section. Can you say third world!?

This compared to AA's wonderful First class check in lines at MIA( in one word, a mess!)... There was one agent for First/Business and the line just sat there. Coach was down the other way and I actually think it was moving faster...

You take all your bags to a table and the (idiot, sorry) security guard chooses one bag and checks it at random... Thank goodness he didn't check my behemoth filled with all my aviation stuff.... Asked the stupid security questions that I could repeat in my sleep(and that is NOT a good thing, thank you!) ... The agent profusely apologized and there were no worries as we had hours before the flight, leaving ourselves fun time at the airport. This is a nice airport to play in... She compensated by giving me mounds of ticket jackets, priority tags, and the like, thank you. I still have my Qantas First Class tag on my Swissair carry on.

We toured the public area, with many good shops and facilities... I had bought a few more post cards(Sydney) and some other trinkets... Maybe an Aussie magazine or something... They have the post office with the masses of airline postcards, but already bought a ton of those last year... (literally, it cost me $$$ but it is worth it, and now they make for nice wallpaper, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )

I think we had seen it all. I was too lazy to go run over to the domestic terminal(in another city I think http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) and play with the lounge there, but should have, it is nicer,actually. It is a pain to go to the domestic terminals in Australia. I guess they want to compete with Heathrow, LOL.

Went to passport control-special line for us up front brats- and the place was empty. I asked for my special stamp out and I don't remember what but I had casually asked some question about New Zealand. Per the customs officer coming in, she ripped on New Zealand and explained that they don't like New Zealand... children! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I left it at that... Security wasn't too bad and then you're done... I like to check out the passsport control area and so did my final look. It actually is a well run operation. We had the electronic visa and so the airline gives you a card with some details filled out, you fill out the rest.

Went to the Qantas Club and stored our weigh downs... Staff were friendly but I just don't care much for these lounges. First has some light, but too small. Downstairs-Business,which is much larger, is dismal. Again, domestic lounge is much nicer... Chewed on the food, not bad... A fancy beef, chicken, the usual nuts, fruits, and goodies... Business lounge was less sophisticated, but ok. I remember the Qantas lounge at Wellington (NZ) last year. For some reason, I had preferred that one, ready made sandwhiches, that delicious ice cream, and a better deal. Amazing how lounges differ, eh?

I went out to do some shopping. Bought a couple of last minute souvenirs and then hit the Duty
Free Shop http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. I had seen from my trip to Brisbane the day earlier a large quantity of Cailler Swiss chocolates. They were decent size boxes of a very good, high quality Swiss chocolate. Let's leave the details out and just say that I had bought a "few", ah hmmmmmmm... and tax free at that. Haven't seen them anywhere else outside of beloved Switzerland... As for the other items, standard stuff. Though I will say with the great exchange rate, everything is a bargain... just that you have to carry it home...

Last year I had a bad foot from hiking, where else? Switzerland. When I was leaving to go to NZ(last year) I had wanted to go hit the other side of the Int'l terminal, but I remember going downstairs and saying, nahhhhhh, too far. Walking was a struggle. ( I was very careful this last summer in CH and "avoided" some of the hikes, he he he)
It was nice to finally get downstairs and be able to do it, as I was curious what the other int'l terminal is all about. It is cool that you get to see the passport and customs areas, though no flights were coming in so there was nothing special to watch. Last year, I could see athletes/pre-Olympics coming in from different countries, that was neat... There is a long, narrow hallway in a sterile area, alongside the way to customs, but with no access to arrivals. In other words, when you leave, you're stuck and can't come back...

I hiked it over to the other side as the Malaysian Air lounge was closing. She was very sweet and handed me their inflight magazine, which was appreciated. Sorry Darwin, only one... (mine!) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif The lounge was small so I couldn't see much there, but then if you have seen their gigantic lounge at KL, that is a much different story...

I toured the other side, which is much bigger by the way... They had some good shops and there is more light, it is more airy, but nothing special. I did watch them board the Lauda Air 777 with the gorgeous Austrian "stews" hanging around, that is a treat by itself... I didn't bother with the lounges.
Headed back and we hung out at the Qantas lounge til boarding time.
Was finally able to get onto the 1/2 computers in the whole place to check my e-mail(beloved slow AOL internet :P), and to warn people that I was coming home... he he he Hide if you can... A few more snacks and swiped some more waters. One of the bottled waters, which I didn't try til onboard was awful, so they all went into the wastebin onboard, too much to carry ....

-10

Ok, boarding time. The gate was actually right next to the club, however, it was time to start the secondary check thing. It is sad to have to do this on a non-US airline. I would fly back from Europe on Finnair(an AA partner) and there would be no secondary security check like you'd have on AA or any other US carrier, was Heaven. Now, we've downgraded to this fiasco.

They had desks laid out at the gate entrance area. They rifled through my carry ons, but as I had brought a ton of reading material, hey, it is a 13+ hour flight, so I come prepared, they went through every page of every magazine and newspaper, was too much... I actually laughed... In essence, the bozos were only delaying me from my pre-flight drink, and not like I was in a hurry to get onboard. I smiled when he was threw playing with my things http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif and went onboard. Again, all the agents and the like were very kind and was good to have that childish check over. Embarkation of the beautiful 747-400(744) was smooth. Friendly crew at the door and showed me my seat. They brought around newspapers, took a couple of Aussies papers, last time, to check up on any Ansett news. I chatted with Brian a bit.

Then I changed seats to the nose, right hand side. Brian took the rear-4A, what I had coming down. By taking the nose window, I had the area to myself as there was no one in 1A. More privacy vs. sitting next to the 2 lovely ladies in the back... I am sure they are sweet, but that is a long time to make small talk across the aisle. I love the individual seat set up. They brought over those delicous macademia nuts and a pre-flight drink. Gee, sparkling mineral water with ice , you guessed it.
I did a quick tour to the back, Business was open, completely open on the left hand side, and coach was empty, overall, with people scattered. Ironically, per my luck, First was half full. Bring back SAA where Brian and I had First all to ourselves.........Oh, how I loved that so much! Now I need that with a girl http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif...

They were slow to bring things out and had to ask for the amenity kit, duvet(large blanket/comforter-nice), pillow, headsets, jammies(night suit), etc... coming down most things were already on the seats, so let's hear it for the LAX ground crew!! whoooo hooooo!

The "stew" up there was cute and very friendly, very sweet. Yes, I could date her, not now, but could then... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif There was also a male F/A from Spain(Spanish flag lapel pin on his shirt), with a very strong accent, but he also was cool, as we say here in California. They were attentive and while I had to ask for everything, they were there to answer and with a thank you at that. Cool!

Push back and taxi out. Final QF,for this trip( he he he, 2 more months and I get the Qantas dance!!!) safety demo, no dance, as we were in the nose of this monster, but a nice monster... Terminal was almost desolate, everyone else was on their way around the globe. Sun was going down so we had a beautiful sunset. Taxxied out to the long, peninsular runway and passed a man canooing in a boat in the water inlet. It was fun to watch the plane jam past him. Last look at the int'l terminal, turn around, could see Sydney in the distance as well as the domestic terminals-right hand side. Was sad, first to be leaving, then also to see the empty Ansett terminal, probably the last time I will ever see Ansett even though it has always been a part of my aviation life, so near, yet so far...

Jumbo rolling, past the domestics, stick you Impulse!(yes, I actually thought that, actually something worse, but can't print that here http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ), and airborne.
Flew over Homebush-Olympic Stadium and then circled around the Sydneysider suburbs and then the City before heading out over that long and neverending blue stuff. It was a good final view of Sydney, but nothing like the departure to Brisbane. Yes, I was sad, it was emotional, no crying or anything http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, but I also knew that I would be back. I am in love with Australia and with Sydney, and not a bad airport at that. I also love Qantas, now one of my favorites, and so, I will be back. I also miss that Chinese resto. Dang that food was good!

I moved over to the left side, seat belt sign still on, ah hmmmmm, knelt down at the window and watched the cliffs and remaining land of Oz dissapear as we flew out to the Pacific, with some twilight left...

Back to my seat and everything starts. The stew intro'd herself, again, cute and nice, and was there for me, I loved it. The up front service on US airlines is such a (freaking) joke and the idea that people pay to sit up there, a free upgrade, fine, well, never mind... no soapbox here. Let's just say the Qantas First service is Heavenly-i.e. when I die, I want it to be like this, hint made... One reason I try to behave on this earth, well, some of the time, LOL.

They gave us our jammies(sleep suit), which by the way was so comfortable, and back to the wonderful loo with the marble floor, there is a window, nice cologne, hangars to hang up your worn out nice clothes from a long day of whatever, and those nice, little cloth towels that I never, ever take a bunch of, he he he.

Hung up my clothes and upon coming out, the crew duly took them away and hung them up for me, ok, I could get so used to this. Back to AA coach, forget it! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Only Singapore acted anything like this. It was time for drinks, nuts, and the like. They gave me extra amenity kits, menus, and the list goes on. I collect everything and then my friends collect everything. Oh, the pressure. smile...

They did more nuts and I started the inflight program, which ain't too shabby, fyi. Also, had tons (literally mountains) of reading to do. Started out with the sitcom selection. The chief purser came over and intro'd himself, very nice, gave me an explanation of the service. I have seen this on KLM and Lufthansa, it is very classy and truly First Class. KLM was even in Business. Way to go!


[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 04-12-2002).]

You're gonna have to tell us more about the Impulse Incident.

THE MENU

I am normally not a big menu person, as you can tell otherwise. Brian scanned the menu for this flight for another report(skytrax), so I have it here. Dinner and meal review to follow. Normally, I give all menus to a wonderful Frenchman who gives me back a 1000 fold in return. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

DINNER
.
CANAPE
Maggie Beer Pate on Sourdough
Tartlet of Prawn & Herb Salad with Aioli
ENTREES
Tuscan Onion Soup with Gruyere Croutons
Mezze Plate
MAIN COURSES
Australian Beef Fillet with roast vegetables & Horseradish Creme Fraiche
Snapper, White Bean, Artichoke & Olive Salad with Salsa Verde
Roast Chicken with Pea & Prosciutto Puree & Mint Jus
Vegetable Ragout with Polenta and Pine Nuts
.
Green Leaf Salad with Palm Sugar Vinaigrette
CHEESE
Selection of Seasonal Cheese
DESSERTS
Rhubarb & Strawberry Pie with Creme Anglaise
Cassata Ice Cream
PETITS FOUR
Kennedy & Wilson Chocolates
Sour Cherry Beignets
.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Buster CT1K:
You're gonna have to tell us more about the Impulse Incident.</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; ah, gonna pass, thanks. Let's just say I hate that freaking airline to the other down under http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. Brian isn't too pleased with it, either. Call it a bad experience.

-10

Ok, as for the dinner. The dinner service is quite sophisticated. They have a pull out table from the side.
A very nice, white tablecloth is laid down, full cutlery, yes knives http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif and all. Glasses for wine which I don't drink but tempting to swipe it, I didn't. If I took anything, I pretty much asked for it and they were more than happy to help me where they could. One reason Qantas gets so many points with me, as they do try to help the collector of airline memorabilia. I certainly fall into that category, ROTFLMAO As can be imagined, several rounds of sparkling Australian mineral water washed everything down, though I do know that Brian did drink the wine.

With the appetizers here as with any airline, I try to sample a little bit of each. Then, if I like something, we can do more. I don't ever want to see "cheapness" or cutbacks in food service in First, that is not acceptable.
Hence, there should be plenty to go around. If there isn't, ah, fly another airline. Any airline that goes on the cheap in the true front cabin is gonna lose pax, and then some. You're not paying $10,000 US or 140,000 precious and coveted FF miles(which can take years to build up, more so if you are not elite) to have them say sorry, we're out of the chicken. I don't think so.

Anyway, the appetizers were good, especially the pate. I do like Qantas' soups, quite tasty. I don't care for the salads, so I just pass on those. Nothing like a good ole' American salad with ranch dressing and croutons.
The chicken was good. The portions up here are generous and in a large bowl with accoutrements.
They come by often to see how you are doing and if you ask, and if they can do, you receive.
For the dessert, I had some cheese and crackers and then some ice cream, not big on strawberry, but then Brian can have mine. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif In fact I think I ran it back to him. I love brie cheese, so lot's of that, s'il vous plait. Remember please, I am going off of memory from last September. Next time, I may even take notes.

I made up for it as to the chocolates.... They were nice to me on that and they lay out chocolates, cookies, and fruit on the table near the left door in the galley, so you can stop by and pick them up, which I did, and generously so at that, smile...

REFRESHMENTS ON REQUEST
Chicken Consomme with Wontons
Roast Pumpkin, Fetta & Rosemary Tart
Steak Sandwich with Rocket & Tomato Chilli Relis
Almond Biscuits
Pear & Cinnamon Friand
Fresh Whole Fruit
.
Kind of jumping ahead, but since we are on the subject of food here. I will mention the brunch later which is at the end of the flight. Out of the above listings, the almond biscuits(cookies for us yanks) were delicious! Had a few..... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
You can see the Steak Sandwhich above. That was tasty! So much so could have had a few, did have 2. He had to heat it. Full cutlery and set up for this sandwhich. I would rather have this than most of the food on there. Ok, done with the food, for now. .......

-10

Ok, with all that food done and the tray out of the way, sorry, an annoyance, it is play time. One thing that I hate about these longhaul night flights, everyone goes to bed after eating, yuck... They did offer the Duty Free service, the cute crewmember took my precious Citibank Platinum (AA miles)visa(now a mastercard, fyi) and literally dissapeared with it. Someone on here, Paul :-P, requested a Qantas watch for his b-day or Christmas, not sure which present it was, but was duly given. I picked up one for myself on the flight down, the gray watch, with the white watch on the previous trip. Yes, I love it! I hope that Paul appreciates it, ah hmmmmmm http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. She returned the card hours later, after I had asked about it?!?!?, oh well... I knew she wasn't going anywhere with it,
LOL. Apparently, she had put it away and then went on "break." Atleast it was not a break like on SAA... They do have a nice Duty Free selection, but it was just the watch I wanted... I will have to say BA and SQ(Singapore) have a nice D/F catalog.

Ok, fresh mineral water, lot's of chocolates, & looked over the video catalog-you have quite a generous selection of movies to choose from. The crew gives you a small cassette and were even nice enough to set the first one up for me...While doing that, I went back and annoyed Brian http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif(big smile) as I never do that... then did a walkabout throughout the plane, annoying everyone with my showy First class jamies. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif It is a good idea to do lot's of walking and you can stand in the back... Yes, I am also looking for goodies around the plane, hint magazine racks and all. In the First Class storage closet they have quite a few magazines, but not what I was exactly, ah, looking for... next time! It was good to get a stretch... wish that Brian had joined me on a couple of these, it is good for your body to move around in a 13+ hour time frame. DVT and all.

Back to the movies and actually cleared through several of the individual movies, the same selection as going down, and then they also have the videos on the individual monitor, nothing special, some sitcoms. KLM had the best sitcom selection, not a bad idea. I did check the flight map from time to time. Hint, it was blue pretty much http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. The 2 things you look for are the Int'l Date Line, i..e going from Thursday back to Wednesday. Then the equator. I don't do much North to South travel, remember, I am a Euro addict, so it is still relatively special to me. The first time was on SAA over Africa and I will tell you, that was cool. Brian even came back and joined me on that one as it was special. Speaking of whom, he is back there sleeping like the rest of the cabin and I am ready to bounce, look out! LOL I did watch Meet the Parents for the 20th time as I had wanted a laugh. I went to see it for the first time with my mom and could have died from laughing so hard. Ben (Stiller), you are cool! When he shoots the wine cork at the grandmother's urn, oh my heck! ROTFLMAO http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Ok, cleared the movies, read my magazines. I had brought with me a whole stack of airliner/aviation magazines such as Airliners from the UK, good mag., Aero, from Germany, yeah, kinda sorta all in German but with good pics and I can make out some of it. If I read too much German, I get a headache. Somewhat the same with tooooo much French, but hey, I try. I also had a couple of Swiss aviation magazines from the Euro trip to look over, hey, good pics!, some German was read, come on, and I was able to clear away quite a bit of leftover reading material from the last trip. Had newspapers and a couple of travel magazines, plus any inflight mag's such as the Malaysian inflight, a good issue.

This is when I ordered the Steak sandwhich, a la 2X, from my Spanish friend. I think he was surprised that I was up. Being in the front seat, I could keep my light on as it was distant from the nearest pax, and I had lot's of energy. Hey, I can sleep at home, thank you, this is fun! As said previously, the sandwhiches were good.
Plus, full cutlery and tablecloth, loved it... Our cheap airlines give you all plastic up front and they give you a full set for a sandwhich, OK...

The one spot of land that we did fly over was Samoa. I didn't realize how far north it was. I went to the left side of the plane and I could see one yellow light on the Island, from what I could see, cloudy I assume. Made me miss those stargazing nights in the Cooks. Yes, I did try to do some star watching on this flight as well. Bad me, I woke up Brian for the one light, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif... Brian, you can sleep at home! dude...

Pretty much rounded up the movies, more walkabouts to the back, more chocolates, and finished off the reading material, handing old newspapers to the crew. By this time the sun was coming up and there was a most beautiful sunrise out over the Pacific. I will tell you, it was incredible! Huge clouds over the ocean and the water sparkled, and it was nice to get out of the dark after so many hours. We were quite a distance SE of Hawaii...

Another surprise came up. Ah, I kinda, sorta( as some of you well know) believe in UFO's. Well, for some reason, there was one out there. You can see them at dusk and early morning. Bright, annoying white light emanated from it. I almost wanted to go up and chat with the captain and see what he tought. FYI, pilots see UFO's all the time(duh!, they are all over the place), but they prefer to keep quiet, and I understand. There was a Russian pilot of a freighter who refused to land at a Siberian airport as there was a UFO over it, ah, that helps to convince. It was actually later, last December, fyi, that I saw something that convinced me beyond belief, i.e., a UFO hovering over Malibu, it was cool!, and then jumped thousands of feet into the air and then flew away. As far as I know, we just don't have anything that sophisticaed. Was exciting, was bone chilling, but also convinced me to the max. that they exist. So, anyway, that was a UFO and I was curious what on earth they were doing out over the Pacific Ocean, studying fish? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

With that, it was sleep time. I closed the shade, glasses off, everything put away, and put my seat/bed into full horizontal position. Pillow, duvet, blanket, and all the works, and I was off to la la land... It was nice, and I think of it when I sit there as uncomfortable as humanly possible in coach. GRWL Remember, by saving my miles and not upgrading to Business on the transatlantics(AA, get real! ), I get to do fancy trips like these.
If I flew Air France, that might be a different story, as I love their Business Class.

We had hit some turbulence, so much so that my glasses were ready to fall off the side panel and thank goodness I had that intuitive thing to check for them and stop them from going over. Yes, it was bumpy. Now, you open the window and it is too bright, might annoy the other pax http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. So, back to sleep til brunch time...
My Qantas flat bed and all the works was so comfy. The Qantas jamies helped as well...

The Chinese restaurant in SYD is the Golden Century. There you go http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Really enjoyed your report, I love how you Americans love us Aussies http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

cheers,

Clement

This report is simply brilliant!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Clement Lowe:
The Chinese restaurant in SYD is the Golden Century. There you go http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Really enjoyed your report, I love how you Americans love us Aussies http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

cheers,

Clement</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; thank you! We will be there in 2 months, and we are going to that restaurant! Care to join us?! something to think about. We have already booked MEL-Perth(code?) and then to SYD. Will get into SYD about 2200 something and the resto is supposed to be open til 2am, and I am going!!! What, you think Qantas coach will feed me properly? LOL

I am in love with Australia and I am in love with the Australian people. No exceptions.
Cheers mate http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rdd:
This report is simply brilliant!</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Blush! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif A little more wrap up to come. I gave all I could til 2/3 am and had to stop. Thanks for the nice comments.
Will be in Melbourne soon, in case you want to hook up? More details later, promise.
How is the Hilton at the Airport? They were building it last time we were there.
Cheers mate.

-10

Ok, woke up after a couple of hours of sleep, it def. helped. Flashback to last year's trip, also very nice and friendly crew,
remember being exhausted when woke up and was grouchy. They gave me some food at the very last
minute that they could and get away with it. This year was better.

Did that customary trip to the loo thing and freshen up. A quick visit to the back.
Then lights came on and brunch was served, starting with juices. Orange always preferred. Menu to follow in a moment. She gave me the watch
for Paul( I really do hope that you are wearing it buddy!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) and my beloved American Airlines miles
earning credit card, I think that is the valuable part to it, LOL It was good to be able to open the window
shades and get some light. We were less than 2 hours out of LA. Brunch menu:

BRUNCH
.
Selection of Fruit Juice
Passion Fruit & Orange Energizer Drink
Citrus Fruit Salad
A Choice of Bakery Items
Smoked Salmon Tart with Herb Creme Fraiche
or
Baked Egg with Ham, Leek & Gruyere,.
Sauteed Field Mushrooms & Tomato Relish
or
Roast Tomato, Fontina & basil on Turkish Bread with Rocket Salad
.
&gt;&gt;&gt; Ok, that is a mouthfull, isn't it!? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif a bunch of fancy, smancy stuff. You're tired, you've been flying
for a long time, and you just want to get off and go home... What I did, again as usual and per custom,
had them give me a little bit of everything. I tried and sampled pretty much everything, and gave back the
rest. With US customs/agriculture rules, everything leftover gets destroyed, and I am assuming that the wonderful crew
have already eaten!? We're getting close. With that, it's clean up and time to start getting rid of trash
and prepare for landing. You otta be suspicious when you leave a flight with more carry on than
when you came on, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif, wide smile. I did ask for every possible goody out there and our beautiful Sheila
acquiesced. Full set of cutlery, actually 2 (ah, MINE! thank you), extra menus, playing cards, stationary,
everything... and again with a thank you. I could have(should have http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) hugged my 2 personal F/A's.
I think they liked me...

[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 04-11-2002).]

-10/END

With that, final clean up, and we started our descent. The planes from Down Under make a special approach into the So. Cal/greater LA area. You fly in over Catalina Island, very rare to do, have only done going out a couple of times to San Diego. It was a great view and then into the Orange County/Long Beach area, does its turn left, and then you can see downtown LA as you go into final approach. My "stew" http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif came over to say a final goodbye and I had expressed my gratitude for such an incredible flight. I asked for permission to keep the video tv out as it showed a local map of LA on the approach, I love it. No overhead map in First Class
to watch it. Landing gear, bumps and booms, and here we come. It was wonderful to be back and there
was a great feeling to see LA again, after all that has happened... Yes, I was smiling, but I would miss
Down Under.

Final and touchdown, rev. engines, and come to stop at end of runway on this usual hazy LA day.
Plane circles around and ironically you see the sister Qantas planes and even the Air Kiwi parked at the
hangars. Now, I should have learned to appreciate all the TWA's over there as well. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

After pulling up to the gate at Bradley, I, as usual http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, have a bad habbit of picking up people's left over
amenity kits, menus, etc., usually used, but I will take them, hey, I love them. They were at a distance so I had waved goodbye and thanks to my personal crew. Grabbed a Business Class menu(Philippe http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) but
couldn't find a Business class amenity kit http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif.

Into the jetway, down the escalator, and down that long, narrow hallway to the arrivals area.
It felt good to be back. Made our way to the US citizens lane, but no one moved. There was not one
US immigration officer there (GRWL!) and had to wait. They finally came back from break, but they
smiled and said, "we're coming" and I guess people let up...

It wasn't a long wait, passport and customs card get stamped, and done with that part. I was impressed
that Cathay had an arrivals desk(portable desk) in the bag. claim area, very inspiring. I didn't see anyone
from Qantas and that is not good.

Grabbed the bags and made my way out. I believe I had been cleared?! The immigration officer is the one
who really clears you, in principle. They check you on the computer and then mark your card accordingly.
One officer at O'Hare didn't like my overnight (one night in Sweden) mileage run to Stockholm so he
obnoxiously put circles all over my card, but had nothing to show to customs but Swedish candy, idiot http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
FYI, you can be pulled over at anytime, til you are out of the "fun zone" so gotta keep your cool, seen it all the time. They can clear you at IMM but still nail you at Customs. What are you gonna do about it?

I declared my chocolates, he noted that at secondary, waved me on and I said "God Bless America", with great intent and feeling. Same thing to the second officer who took my card and I was back in the USA,
yeah!!! Yes, I was happy to be home...

With that to a very empty public/waiting area. After 9/11, they had kept out all public cars from entering inside
the airport, only shuttles, taxis, and employees, with checkpoints all over the airport. Lebanon anyone? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
My mom had a great idea when we talked back in Sydney, take a cab to West LA, meet her there, and get out fast. Everyone else was on packed, literally wall to wall shuttle buses to the parking lots where people were waiting, it was pure hell! Never had to do it, thank goodness.

I bid cheers to Brian who had been(and always is http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) so incredibly wonderful on the trip, he is so good!
He took a shuttle home and I had taken a taxi for my first time in over a decade in LA( I do it all the time in other countries, Singapore everywhere!)... The taxi driver was cool, and he was actually American, wow!,
and got me out of there. To see the checkpoints at my airport was too much, and sad. I loved seeing all the flags, stickers, and everything on the cars on the 405 freeway. I had def. come back to a different home than what I had left. THE END.

POSTUMUS WRAPUPUS http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Hey everyone, thank you so much for your kind support and nice comments. Most of it positive.

One (idiot http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) had actually accused me of lifting all this personal song and dance out of a tourbook, amazing! I don't think that would be possible(so personal), but whatever. The Fodors comment. I am still amazed that one could be so obnoxious. UGH
I think that one would have to have such an incredible imagination to make this up, I couldn't, sorry. I do give many kudos to my friend Uli http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif and his clever Dream Reports. I want more of those, by the way!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I will do one more part, when I can find everything, with an itinerary, reg. #'s, and follow up info...

Thanks for your support and as you will notice, I try to be very supportive of as many trip reports on here as I possibly can...I am so sorry that I just can't read all of them, but I wish. Take care, Michael

ps, with details to follow later, this trip earned an A+ and a 10... I very seldom give that high of a grade and that is even with September 11. I guess our cousins Down Under are quite special, as is Qantas. Cheers mates.

------------------
Michael
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
HH GLD, SCI GLD, MM SIL
LE PRESIDENT ETERNEL DE CAMAIR-CAMEROUN AIRLINES http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 04-11-2002).]

Quite cool! Love reading it.
Would just never travel with you as I would find it embarrasing if someone next to me would grab all non-screw-mounted devices off the plane ... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Uli:
Quite cool! Love reading it.
Would just never travel with you as I would find it embarrasing if someone next to me would grab all non-screw-mounted devices off the plane ... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The Arab "idiot" as you so kindly describe him is no doubt an Australian citizen. You dont rule the whole world you know. Shame to spoil a nice trip report with such vitriol.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
-10

It was the same idiot as downstairs, Arab, fyi, I didn't find that funny at all. What he didn't know is that I like languages and when I heard them speaking Arabic, I was not amused, and that is putting it very politely. I loudly mentioned this displeasure in front of the Qantas purser and gate agent onboard. Maybe they think of it as some kind of a sick joke? Why not hire Aussies to perform the check. Or, gee, Americans!? wow, that would be an idea... but the idea of Arabs doing it was too much, as our country was kinda, sorta, in that anti-Arab mode(and some, hmmmmm, still are )...

</font>

Interesting and detailed trip report, except for this paragraph above. If you're going to have those kinds of thoughts, please don't do them in public. It'll only offend. I'm as patriotic American as the next guy, but sorry, people have a right to speak whatever language they want and be whatever nationality they are. Perhaps others think the same thoughts about you when you speak English in another country. "Idiot American, speaking English like they own the place."

Too bad this one quote had to spoil the trip report for me. I don't think this kind of racism has any place on flyertalk.

Other than that, a thoroughly enjoyable read.

------------------
Jason Seiple
JAX

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Clement Lowe:
The Chinese restaurant in SYD is the Golden Century. There you go http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Really enjoyed your report, I love how you Americans love us Aussies http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

cheers,

Clement</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I really liked that place. I found the wait to be really long, and I was chilly cause the table was near the door, but the food was great!!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pointsgirl:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I really liked that place. I found the wait to be really long, and I was chilly cause the table was near the door, but the food was great!!

</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Hey. Have to go upstairs where it is much, much nicer. Service and food are impeccable...We will be there soon http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.

Thanks again for all your kind support.
One more part to go: itinerary and reg's, have to go find all that...

edited to get rid of rubbish

[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 04-12-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
[B] &gt;&gt;&gt; Ah, thanks guy. When Arabs go and slam planes into our buidlings, I'd rather not have them perform security, thanks. I have been to Arab countries and I love the people. We were all in a sensitive time. I wouldn't feel this way now, how I felt then. I was being honest and it was relevant,as I had communicated my thoughts to the Qantas staff... Too much irony, why I wanted to include it. The security staff, wherever they came from, were rude, sloppy, and took way too long at check-in, turning a First Class product into something less. If I were to have taken that experience into the final "grade", it would have lowered it, hence, I am just ignoring it, but I share.
When I see Americans performing security checks at Dubai, I will then be very happy.
B]</font>

A note to all non-Americans: Don't worry, we aren't all prejudice against an entire ethnicity for what a couple dozen did.

The ethnicity of a person checking your suitcase has nothing to do with anything. As others have said, perhaps they have been an Australian their whole life. I know many people who look Arab, Indian, African, etc., who have lived in the U.S. their entire life and are just as American as either of us.

Should the entire Arab world be shut out from the rest and should Arabs be fired from their jobs because of the actions and goals of a very small portion of the Arab world? I think not.

One note.... I haven't thought this relevant until now. I guarantee I've had worse security screenings from your stereotypical Caucasian man of average build and clean shaven face. I'm sure countless others here have as well. Just because a person is one ethnicity or another doesn't make them better or more qualified for a given job.

Thanks Jason, so appreciated...

To everyone else, I apologize. All this hard work and this kid goes and ruins it.

Anyway, moving on. I apologize for my comments. I will make it up later.

I have one more part to do. Please, from here on in, let's keep the comments positive and forward. That is what encourages us to do further trip reports-they are alot of hard work and time consuming. As I may have said, I share these with others, and as a courtesy, I place one on FlyerTalk. My friends love all the details as they do care about the hotel, the service, what you did in between, etc...I also care about this stuff, as I have stayed out hotels and flown airlines based on others recommendations.

If I do a simmple mileage run, that is different, then I stay with more with the flights, etc...

I may do another trip report like that, if Seiple will please stay away http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif thanks...

Michael,

I can do without the "kid" and other similar comments.

I had positive things to say about all aspects of your trip report except for one paragraph. There is nothing that says only positive replies may be made on this board. We all have a right to express our opinions and I have done that, as have others, and as have you.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
Anyway, throughout my lifetime, I will have gone to many more Arab countries and experienced far more Arab culture than you, so, I am going to forget your comments and more so of 744. You probably haven't even been to an Arab country. I went to Egypt and loved it and the people. I want to travel to Jordan and all over the Gulf.</font>

"I've been there and you haven't so I'm entitled to hate." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif Huh??

or

"Some of my best friends are black people..."

Some folks just don't get it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

[This message has been edited by FWAAA (edited 04-11-2002).]

Hopefully a caucasin won't do anything
wrong in front of you because then you
would have to become a hermit! I know you
have apologized but come on.

Gee, thanks guys! All that work and I finally get to the end... whatever...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
Gee, thanks guys! All that work and I finally get to the end... whatever...</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

[This message has been edited by ScottC (edited 04-11-2002).]

Again, thanks for your support... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

QANTAS 747-400(744) A+ & 10/10
LOS ANGELES-AUCKLAND FLT QF 26
VH-OJJ
SEAT 2K/MOVED TO 4A(BIG TABLE AT SIDE)/
USED 2K FOR TAKEOFF AND LANDING, NO VIEW FROM 4A
13 HOURS

AIR NEW ZEALAND 767-300(763) B & 8/10 FLT NZ 48
AUCKLAND-RAROTONGA
NZ-NCI
SEAT 4K(4A FOR TAKE OFF FROM AKL)
ABOUT 4 HOURS

AIR NEW ZEALAND 767-300(763) B & 8/10 FLT NZ 49
RAROTONGA-AUCKLAND
NZ-NCH
SEAT 4A (WONDERFUL SEAT COMPANION)
ABOUT 4 HOURS

QANTAS 747-300(743) B+ & 9/10 QF FLT 44
AUCKLAND-SYDNEY
VH-EBV
3 1/2 HOURS +/-

QANTAS 747SP (74L) B & 8/10 (COACH http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) FLT QF 151
SYDNEY-BRISBANE
VH-EAB
1 HOUR

VIRGIN BLUE 737-400(734) B & 8/10 FLT 238, VIRGIN BLUE CODE #??
BRISBANE-SYDNEY
VH-VGE
1 HOUR

QANTAS 747-400(744) A+ & 10/10 QF # 7
SYDNEY-LOS ANGELES QF
VH-OJJ
13 1/2 HOURS

------------------
Michael
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
HH GLD, SCI GLD, MM SIL
LE PRESIDENT ETERNEL DE CAMAIR-CAMEROUN AIRLINES :)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ScottC:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/tongue.gif</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; thanks (that was alot of work!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif )
time for a Perrier

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Worldtraveler36 thanks for the trip report.

Seiple: Chill, will ya? It's the way he felt, and please don't tel you've never had such thoughts. Anyways I've got to admit I would be uncomfortable if an Arab Muslim was doing the security check (on a flight to the USA), just like the Arabs would be uneasy with an Israeli doing the secuirty check. It's not about racism, but if you take a look at the world around you, you'll understand why.

PS: Worldtraveler, I live in Dubai http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Marco:
Worldtraveler36 thanks for the trip report.

Seiple: Chill, will ya? It's the way he felt, and please don't tel you've never had such thoughts. Anyways I've got to admit I would be uncomfortable if an Arab Muslim was doing the security check (on a flight to the USA), just like the Arabs would be uneasy with an Israeli doing the secuirty check. It's not about racism, but if you take a look at the world around you, you'll understand why.

PS: Worldtraveler, I live in Dubai http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Salam Alechem Marco. Shoukran for your nice comments. Appreciated. We were coming home a week after 9/11, you can understand. I wouldn't even think that way now...I was being honest in including my feelings, but thanks to these guys making a big deal out of it, GEEZ, I removed the comments before forwarding to my list(though I am sure most of them would have agreed with me). I would have edited them here if it were not for their highlighting and comments. sad.

Someday I will get to Dubai, it is supposed to be wonderful with great hotels.
If you want to share details!?, go ahead.
Shoukran.

Hey Worldtraveler,

Dubai is a nice place to visit, the hotels are very luxurious and the weather's perfect (not in the summer though). In fact I was at the Royal Mirage last weekend, and it was very relaxing. I know all of you have heard about the Burj al Arab, but IMO it's totally overrated. I would stay at the Mirage if I was a tourist. Dubai is a nice place to live, but it's not my cup of tea. Fortunately I am moving this summer to Boston.

About the Arabic issue, don't worry about it, I'm glad you mentioned it. Everybody thinks this way, it's not racism at all. It's called being "normal", and not repeating whatever is fed to you by the press...

If you're ever in Dubai email me! and keep the reports coming! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Great report! Thanx! ...kept me over 2h away from my work...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ralfkrippner:
Great report! Thanx! ...kept me over 2h away from my work...</font>

LOL dude! Did it take that long!? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Wait til the next one! he he he thanks.

Shoukran(thanks)Marco, appreciated.

I was nice and didn't mention the suicide bombers, sheeeeeezzzzzz...

A good friend of mine was almost on the AA flight from BOS to LA... When I had learned that I could have past out...

These are kids who are just trying to be annoying, that is all. They have never ventured into other parts of the world and that is fine.

I just found it an oxymoron to have Arabs running security at Sydney, but now I don't care. It is sad when people punish you for expressing your opinion. It is really a form of censureship and with the politically correct thing, it is keeping people quiet. Sad...

Anwyay, I will get to Dubai and Bahrain, looking forward to both. Almost did Jordan, had to cancel because of things back here, was sad. My friend in Paris went to Jordan and fell in love with it. Said the people were wonderful...

If I get there before you leave, will look you up. If Cathay had First class to Dubai/Bahrain, I would have considered it, though not in the summer http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif. I won't cash in the miles for a First award and then go Business for half the trip, sorry, that is just plain stupid... Least, I couldn't do it... I would just go Business next time, not a bad way to go, Wing and all...

Thanks and keep in touch...

great report!!!

wow, il ove this forum!

[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler02 (edited 04-12-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:

These are kids who are just trying to be annoying, that is all. They have never ventured into other parts of the world and that is fine.

</font>

Wow, you're so wrong. Also, we aren't kids.
I look forward to reading your next trip report!!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler02:
great report!!!

wow, il ove this forum!

[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler02 (edited 04-12-2002).]</font>

Dude, I love your name! Kewl! Welcome to FlyerTalk... You're gonna have a run ride...
Check out all the boards and get to know everything, then find your favorites... This by a long shot is my fav... keep in touch with us... Maybe give us a Report of your own?! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Seiple:
Wow, you're so wrong. Also, we aren't kids.
I look forward to reading your next trip report!! </font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Thanks Jason... let's be supportive...

I just though about registering as Worldtraveler37 ...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I just found it an oxymoron to have Arabs running security at Sydney</font>

Huh? Arabs as a people are incapable of running security?

I'm SO not into political correctness, but do you not realize that you are destroying the credibility you have built up through your TRs with such ignorant comments? Typically people who travel as much as you appear to travel learn that people are just that: people. Not their religion, or race, or beliefs. But individuals deserving of being judged on individual merit.

How do you know that the person at security that day was not a decorated Australian war hero? How do you know that person is not a Christian, if that is your measure, or even Jewish, for that matter? You had an averse judgment and opinion of this person by his looks and hearing a snippit of him speaking.

There is a word for this, and it ain't pretty: prejudice.

The good news is that its not too late! You don't HAVE to think that way....open your mind to the possibility that individuls are MORE then just how they look. You might be surprised...because there is a word for this, too: enlightenment.

Which is something that you seem to strive to provide with your detailed and through TRs. So I assume it is a quality you value.

Good luck getting over your prejudice, if that's what you choose to do!!!

[This message has been edited by A Freak (edited 04-12-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Uli:
I just though about registering as Worldtraveler37 ...</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Uli, I thought you were younger than me... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif danke...

Freak&gt;&gt;&gt; ignoring...

Freak,
Too bad he's ignoring you. He's not mature enough to accept constructive or concerned criticism.

mess up

[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 04-12-2002).]

blah, blah, blah....

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by couscous:
blah, blah, blah....</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif did you enjoy my crucifixion??? on here... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I think Randy will fix it all, otherwise it would ruin a good trip report...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
&gt;&gt;&gt; http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif did you enjoy my crucifixion??? on here...</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
mess up

[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 04-12-2002).]</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;Obviously, you already know how to mess up a good trip report. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by IAH_FLYER:
&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;Obviously, you already know how to mess up a good trip report. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; gee, how nice, thanks

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
&gt;&gt;&gt; gee, how nice, thanks</font>


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

report incomplete without pictures! we know you have some!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Uli:
report incomplete without pictures! we know you have some!</font>

Indeed, that'd be great.

That was so long but had so much detail. It included the plane info but also included stuff about what you did when you got there.
Thank you for the information on my local airport, I haven't been to enough other airports to compare to anything else.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bundy Bear:
That was so long but had so much detail. It included the plane info but also included stuff about what you did when you got there.
Thank you for the information on my local airport, I haven't been to enough other airports to compare to anything else.

</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Cheers and thank you. I love Brisbane and find it to be a delightful place to visit. Next time, Surfers Paradise! Cheers

Grusse guys http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, thanks... I will do pics for the next trip to Oz, will be there in just over a month. Already buying film. Tschuss and catch ya later

And, Worldtraveler36, you can leave out the "let's have some Anglo-Saxon solidarity!" part the next time you write a trip report. Sheesh.

Can we all live in peace and harmony ??? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by couscous:
Can we all live in peace and harmony ??? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Thanks dude. I can... I am in my next trip report and things are going great.
Come over and take a look.

FYI, I am just ignoring the idiot posts on here. I don't have time for them. To write something so obnoxious on someone's hard work is beyond me. A bientot


[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 04-14-2002).]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Worldtraveler36 (edited 04-14-2002).]

Sydney has a very large population of Arbaic looking people. All citizens. Big migration in the 1960s/70s. Entire parts of Sydney like the Lakemba area are largely Arabic speaking and are lived in by Arabic looking folks.

Most of the Arabic looking/speaking folks who migrated here were Lebanese. And you know what - nearly all of them are Orthodox Christian, not Muslim.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">By the way, they had nice blankets(hint, it is on my bed now http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) .... need I say more?! I would have gladly paid for it, but they always so no ... Those big Auckland Airport Duty Free bags (which I love and have many) do wonders for airline blankets falling in, smile ... </font>

WorldTraveller36, to your credit you are very open about it, saying your once empty carry on was full BEFORE you even boarded the QF plane at LAX, with purloined/stolen things from the QF Lounge. I just have to ask myself WHY??? Why for instance when boarding a 12 hour flight in It'l Qantas First Class does anyone need to knock-off bottles of Perrier Water to take on board? WHY? They serve you Krug Grand Reserve on the plane, as much as you want. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif.

I really am surprised any FA would "approve" the theft of a First Class blanket. Turn a blind eye - yes *maybe*, but to OK it as you allege here??? And what kind of bed do you have at home that it is any use on? Must be one very small bed. I guess I feel all this activity clearly adds to the price for all of us buying our next revenue ticket. OK, a nice wool blanket might only cost them $30 wholesale, but if 20 a flight go walkies, there is $6,000 right there. That needs one full paid business class ticket just to cover the stolen blankets. You get my drift. And the cutlery, plates etc you mention.

I am the first to accept a bottle of wine in First if OFFERED to me. But would never dream of going to a galley and helping myself to one. Does that make any sense? Maybe I am just out of line with current thinking on this issue. Opinions? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

Joh... sometimes these are the same people who complain when things aren't there on the next trip. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Joh:
OK, a nice wool blanket might only cost them $30 wholesale, but if 20 a flight go walkies, there is $6,000 right there.</font>

30 * 20 = 6000 ???? That sounds like chexfan math! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

But, even at $600, your point remains still as valid.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">FYI, I am just ignoring the idiot posts on here. I don't have time for them. </font>

Good for you Worldtrav...you may be a racist, but at least you are a self-aware racist!

Hey Joh, how ya doing? Very informative.

As to the population, God bless them. I had Lebanese and Egyptian frat bro's, yes they were all Christian, and love them dearly. I could go on. Dated a Muslim, she was cool!

I put my foot in my mouth, I admitted it, I apologized. Again, I apologize. I never admitted that I am a racist, unless it is against FREAKS! HA!one in particular...

Most of the comments on here, in case you didn't know, come from a group of children, oh, they might be 30+ (God help us if they are!), but they are children and they were planning to wreck this thing and I knew it. They have already told me, via private e-mail, that they will be wrecking my next and possibly my LAST trip report on here. I have found another board-private, happy there...

I asked Randy to take a look, he sent them a letter, the letter did get back to me, oh yes,it wasn't much. If Randy wants these kids on here wrecking his boards,then great. They will chase away the good people and they contribute nothing but sit around in chat(yes, I have spies in chat, and I know all, thanks, in case they really didn't know that... geeezzzzz). I am considering reposting part of a letter, and an obnoxious one at that, which was recently sent to me telling me that the comments on my trip reports, as you can see below, will not be positive...

I am furious with your fellow countryman 744 for starting all this, assuming he is not one of them, I don't know... They are quite a few. When I come down to your beautiful country in over a month, I will ignore that I ever knew him. He should have e-mailed me privately his concerns. Everyone else just glanced right over it.

I am gonna see if the adults can ignore this garbage and enjoy the report, or if not, put it someplace else...

I have seen this before where you have something good and someone ALWAYS comes along and spoils it, always... I am afraid it is a part of life.

We had built up a wonderful fraternity organization in college, we worked so hard, then later people came along and just wrecked it. It was heartbreaking to all the many of us, over so many years, who had dedicated and sacrificed to build it up, then these little snots come along(I call them little devils, fyi) and ruin it... sad... that is what is happening here...

If they want me to leave, I will leave...
No questions asked. I can revert to being a lurker and I spend less time on here than I used to, as should be evident by a major decline in posts. It is boring. It is the same rubbish asked over and over, with rudeness to follow. It is not a community, least not much of a friendly one, save a few, I am sure including you.

I already know that when I get married I will be done with it, as I want to spend more time with my future wife...

As for the Arab comment, I apologize. I had found it ironic a week after 9/11...Most Americans were fervently anti-Arab. It stinks, it is true, and remember, I was in Australia and New Zealand at the time, we were not alone in the anti-Arab sentiment... Again, at that time, we move on... Mosques in Australia were being vandalized, not that I would EVER condone such a despicable act against a place of worship...

So, again, I apologize... The rational people on here should look at my reports and see that I am a person who loves the world, and then some. They should also see a pattern of the "kids" running around and acting irreverently... Unfortunately, I gave them a way to slam me, but they would have found another way, I can assure you...

As for the blankets, whatever. It is not something I do all the time and next time I will pay...Yes, fyi, airline crews and employees not only turn a blind eye but go on there and bring me one, in case you can't picture that.

As for Krug, I don't drink, it was only a few Perriers and I can drink them in the lounge, on the plane, or at my destination. Not a big deal. I could tell you much worse about others. For you next time, I will back off...

I was tryng to make it more fun for the collector standpoint... I didn't take anything serious... they are there for you to take...

Anyway, God bless and I wish you my best, Michael

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by A Freak:
Good for you Worldtrav...you may be a racist, but at least you are a self-aware racist!</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Do you really believe that Mr. Freak?

I spent half the day in church, where we are taught to love our neighbor.

When I see you brats crying over dead, innocent Israeli children from the suicide bombers, then I may take you seriously...Nah, could never take you seriously...

Markbach, A Foudre!!!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
When I see you brats crying over dead, innocent Israeli children from the suicide bombers, then I may take you seriously...Nah, could never take you seriously...</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

WorldTraveller36. Please do not for one moment think I was calling you a racist in my first post above. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Just pointing out that LOTS of Lebanese born Australian citizens (and indeed many other 'Arabic looking' people) are anything but Muslim, even though their native tongue is Arabic. As to any previous posts by others, well if they have been personal or taken to off-topic emails well you have done the correct thing and appraised Randy.

Hope you keep the reports coming - they are very refreshing, and hope that anyone who chooses to comment does it on-board and in good taste. IMO FWIW your comments about dead Israeli children etc will just aggravate the situation, as I am sure in the ruins of the West Bank villages there are a LOT more dead innocent Arabic muslim children the media has not yet been told about due to the blanket censorship. i.e. much blame on both sides, and WHAT does either have to do with travel?????

And thanks Markbach for the note re the Math. My goof. I did read a post (from 747-400 IIRC) that when UA were running until last year the RTW flights via Delhi on 747s (UA #1 and #2) routinely over HALF the on-board blankets were missing on every flight into and out of New Delhi. Now that is around 200 blankets per FLIGHT, and there you re talking some real money. And I can only suppose magazines/headsets/cutlery also were victims?

As a serious champagne drinker I sobbed in despair to read someone in QF First was not touching the top shelf Krug, which here is about $250 a bottle. I guess in the big picture of things not drinking somehow equals out the blankets and cutlery sets etc. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

-------------------------------------------------



[This message has been edited by Joh (edited 04-15-2002).]

Hey Joh, thanks...

I enjoyed your response and thank you for the nice words...

I am amazed to hear about the blankets... It is an exception, I can assure you. I have done a couple, but more often than not I ask the crew and it is their call. For the cutlery, almost always have asked and more so up front, as it is expensive. Usually the answer is, " I don't see anything." Works for me, the smile and the wink help, too.

&gt;&gt;&gt; "As a serious champagne drinker I sobbed in despair to read someone in QF First was not touching the top shelf Krug, which here is about $250 a bottle. I guess in the big picture of things not drinking somehow equals out the blankets and cutlery sets etc

&gt;&gt;&gt; this is funny. It would be a disaster if I drank as I could see myself as a drunk. I easily get addicted to things, so will stay away. Plus, who wants a hangover on a 12 hour flight? I was in a fraternity so I have seen it all. (and then some, hmmmmmmmm)

Keep in touch and cheers mate. I love your country! Michael

Oh, and think of me when I fly CX First and turn down their best champagne... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif I will be the one having the Perrier...(and will be sober as well http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) if that is a good thing, well.........LOL

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I spent half the day in church, where we are taught to love our neighbor.

When I see you brats crying... </font>


Here are a couple of concepts I guess you missed during you half-day in church:

Matthew 5:39
But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

1 John 2:9
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.


As for your 'slip of the tounge,' I hope that you were simply swept up in the xenophobic fervor of the day, and not allowing deeper-held beliefs to slip out.

But either way, I see that you now realize how inappropriate such comments are. Good for you!

------------------
"You are A Freak. You are A Freak. You are A Freak. You are A Freak."

-- Wingless, DUS-ORD, February 10, 2002...

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:


I asked Randy to take a look, he sent them a letter, the letter did get back to me, oh yes,it wasn't much. If Randy wants these kids on here wrecking his boards,then great. They will chase away the good people and they contribute nothing but sit around in chat
</font>

You have considered all but one possibility, Michael. Perhaps you are the problem and Randy sees that? I think he believes that adults on this board should be able to work out their problems without running and telling the teacher, like you have been doing.

All people do is express their opinion. You cannot seem to understand that people other than your royal self are allowed to have and express their own opinions, and believe it or not, they can be contrary to what you think! Imagine that, a world full of different people may actually disagree on things!

You certainly are doing nothing to alleviate the situation Michael. You continue to send childish, name-calling e-mails to anybody who disagrees with you. You claim that all adults should just ignore things they don't like. Why don't you just ignore everybody else instead of baiting people on further by sending them these terrible and obnoxious e-mails? You ever think people would just leave you alone if you had just apologized and said it was just your thought out of anger at the time about the Arab security screener? Yes, people would have left you alone. They didn't because everytime you apologized or actually said something sensible, you ruined it by flaming anybody who complained in the next paragraph. It just doesn't work that way. You don't like to be flamed, and neither does anybody else.

How unfortunate you label anybody who does not think or behave exactly like you as a child. I'd much rather be labeled as a child than have people believe I'm anything like you.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by A Freak:

Here are a couple of concepts I guess you missed during you half-day in church:

Matthew 5:39
But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

1 John 2:9
Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.


As for your 'slip of the tounge,' I hope that you were simply swept up in the xenophobic fervor of the day, and not allowing deeper-held beliefs to slip out.
&gt;&gt;&gt; BINGO! It was one week after 9/11.

But either way, I see that you now realize how inappropriate such comments are. Good for you! &gt;&gt;&gt; thank you

</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Thank you kind sir. I think this thread has been beaten to death. How about we let it go rest in peace. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif God bless.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:
&gt;&gt;&gt; Thank you kind sir. I think this thread has been beaten to death. How about we let it go rest in peace. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif God bless. </font>

Why is it that you have no problem beating a topic to death as it suits you, but that you always urge the rest of us to let it rest when it turns against your favor.

Of course, if you are to be true to form here, one of two things will happen (as they have with you on other forums)...

you will either go back and edit your posts to take out the less considerate remarks so that those who responded to you appear to be flaming you...

or you will storm off the forum (as you did on the AA forum) claiming that you are being persecuted by all of us.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Am I the only one who thinks this is getting old?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
Am I the only one who thinks this is getting old?[/B]</font>

No, you're not the only one

I wonder how long it will take the author of this thread to send me a nasty email?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
...you will either go back and edit your posts to take out the less considerate remarks so that those who responded to you appear to be flaming you...</font>

ding, ding, ding!

he's already done that

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ERIC30:
I wonder how long it will take the author of this thread to send me a nasty email?</font>

You haven't gotten any yet? I'm surprised. I guess you aren't special like the dozen of us who have, list growing longer by the day. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

techgirl,
You are so correct. I'm hoping he'll post a farewell and just go away and leave us all in peace once again. He'd fit in very well on airliners.net.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
Why is it that you have no problem beating a topic to death as it suits you, but that you always urge the rest of us to let it rest when it turns against your favor.

Of course, if you are to be true to form here, one of two things will happen (as they have with you on other forums)...

you will either go back and edit your posts to take out the less considerate remarks so that those who responded to you appear to be flaming you...

or you will storm off the forum (as you did on the AA forum) claiming that you are being persecuted by all of us.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Am I the only one who thinks this is getting old?</font>

Agree 110%, techgirl.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Ditto.

Me too!

I can just guess what your 'From:' stands for, markbach!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by IAH_FLYER:
I can just guess what your 'From:' stands for, markbach!</font>

I'm sure you can... care to join in?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Worldtraveler36:


As for the Arab comment, I apologize. I had found it ironic a week after 9/11...Most Americans were fervently anti-Arab. It stinks, it is true, and remember, I was in Australia and New Zealand at the time, we were not alone in the anti-Arab sentiment... </font>

Worldtraveler36 is trying to excuse his anti-Arab comment by saying that after 9/11 there was a lot of anti-Arab feeling and that he was caught up in it. But he posted his trip report on 3-20-2002... more than six months after the trip. The caught-up-in-it excuse holds no water. Any person properly ashamed of being anti-Arab at the time would not have posted it at all, or would have posted it with a MAJOR mea culpa.

Worldtraveler36 is trying to excuse his anti-Arab comment by saying that after 9/11 there was a lot of anti-Arab feeling and that he was caught up in it. But he posted his trip report on 3-20-2002... more than six months after the trip. The caught-up-in-it excuse holds no water. Any person properly ashamed of being anti-Arab at the time would not have posted it at all, or would have posted it with a MAJOR mea culpa.

&gt;&gt;&gt; Do you think maybe I was expresing my feelings from the time???? I am also engaged but expressed a close friendship with a friend in New Zealand. It was at the time...

We are done here people!!!

&gt;&gt;&gt; mea culpa...

michael, wonderful trip report. i am so jealous. mazeltov

------------------
LY744

Does anyone ELSE find it completely ODD when someone new shows up on FT and their first dozen posts are ALL supportive replies to posts from a single FTer across a variety of threads?

(I dare not post links here as I would prefer to not be accused of personal attacks, but I would believe that it would not be that hard to find them....)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

techgirl, wonderful observation.

mazeltov

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mashav:
techgirl, wonderful observation.

mazeltov</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; yes techgirl aka princess, insightful
i am a friend of his and habe been watching for a while, now i am here to support my friend
by the way, he has lots of friends, many of them jews who don't like the pro-arab sh*t going on here



------------------
LY744

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
Does anyone ELSE find it completely ODD when someone new shows up on FT and their first dozen posts are ALL supportive replies to posts from a single FTer across a variety of threads?

(I dare not post links here as I would prefer to not be accused of personal attacks, but I would believe that it would not be that hard to find them....)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif</font>

then princess, go and find them. post your links. you will find me on one other board where you will be seeing lots of me and many others

we have been watching for a while, sorry i took so long to get on here
all your pro arab sh*t
you are the f- racists

btw, a major flame war is about to start
i think i will go visit your lovely princess trip report oh i need another massage today

w/t even said nice things on your trip, then you turn around and stab in the back oh so immature

shalom princess


------------------
LY744

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
then princess, go and find them. post your links. you will find me on one other board where you will be seeing lots of me and many others

we have been watching for a while, sorry i took so long to get on here
all your pro arab sh*t
you are the f- racists

btw, a major flame war is about to start
i think i will go visit your lovely princess trip report oh i need another massage today

w/t even said nice things on your trip, then you turn around and stab in the back oh so immature

shalom princess


</font>

WT complains about supposed "flames" then enlists you all to come on here and completely destroy the boards? How immature. At least the rest of us can pass on our constructive criticism through well-written and mature posts. If you are just going to flame, don't bother. Just go away while you are still ahead.

No one said we were all "pro Arab." Nor did anybody say they were anti-Arab. This is a board for people to discuss trips and frequent flyer programs. It is not a place to post judgements on different ethnicities or make blanket racist statements. Those types of things have NO place on flyertalk.

I ask you to please respect the rules of this board and the decorum and do not trash this place. I ask you to make your posts in a responsible and mature manner. Then we may be a little more conducive to your viewpoints and opinions (we certainly aren't when you post childish names and send harrassing e-mails).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
then princess, go and find them. post your links. you will find me on one other board where you will be seeing lots of me and many others

we have been watching for a while, sorry i took so long to get on here
all your pro arab sh*t
you are the f- racists

btw, a major flame war is about to start
i think i will go visit your lovely princess trip report oh i need another massage today

w/t even said nice things on your trip, then you turn around and stab in the back oh so immature

shalom princess


</font>

Oh gee... a personal attack.

I feel SO wounded.

Get over yourself Michael. Your little "multiple handle" thing is a day old and already getting a bit long in the tooth. Your comments to the others on this board are rude and insensitive. Frankly, I think a lot of people here have been MORE than fair with you considering the level of judgment and maturity you have displayed with your posts since coming to Flyer Talk.

I know that you hold a grudge with me for being one of those who "ran you off" the AA Forum. And I'm a strong enough person to realize this is JUST AN INTERNET BULLETIN BOARD and so your little personal attacks are like water off a ducks back dear.

But let's straighten up a couple of things...

1. Princess is the handle of another Flyer Talker who is a dear friend. I would greatly appreciate you not referring to me by someone elses handle as I don't drag other people into my battles.

2. You have attacked via this forum and e-mail several other people who are also dear friends. I have zero loyalty to you and your little "army of friends".

3. I love this little threat of a MAJOR FLAME WAR. Do you really think we have nothing better to do than play in the mud with you kids? Grow up.

4. I'm going to greatly enjoy serving my time-out WITH you, WT36/ElAl/whatever other name you make up to come back under. Yes, I fully expect that e-mail from Randy to be coming along shortly. If I have to serve a time out, I would love nothing more for it to be for telling off a whiny want-something-for-nothing, petty kleptomaniac who has spend his entire four months on Flyer Talk annoying the hell out of all of us with his something-for-nothing, frequently abusive, YELLING IN ALL CAPS, grammatically incorrect, annoying as all get out posts.

(and right about now, I'm really wishing we had a "raspberry" smiley to top this off)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
4. I'm going to greatly enjoy serving my time-out WITH you, WT36/ElAl/whatever other name you make up to come back under. Yes, I fully expect that e-mail from Randy to be coming along shortly. If I have to serve a time out, I would love nothing more for it to be for telling off a whiny want-something-for-nothing, petty kleptomaniac who has spend his entire four months on Flyer Talk annoying the hell out of all of us with his something-for-nothing, frequently abusive, YELLING IN ALL CAPS, grammatically incorrect, annoying as all get out posts.


</font>

Techgirl,
Thank you for this. I'm in complete agreement.
At this point I'm willing to take a permanent ban from flyertalk if it means getting rid of WT36 and returning this place to what it used to be.

techgirl,

ROTFLMAO!!!!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
I would love nothing more for it to be for telling off a whiny want-something-for-nothing, petty kleptomaniac who has spend his entire four months on Flyer Talk annoying the hell out of all of us with his something-for-nothing, frequently abusive, YELLING IN ALL CAPS, grammatically incorrect, annoying as all get out posts.
</font>

Ooops... I left out chronic post editing in my laundry list! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
4. I'm going to greatly enjoy serving my time-out WITH you, WT36/ElAl/whatever other name you make up to come back under. Yes, I fully expect that e-mail from Randy to be coming along shortly. If I have to serve a time out, I would love nothing more for it to be for telling off a whiny want-something-for-nothing, petty kleptomaniac who has spend his entire four months on Flyer Talk annoying the hell out of all of us with his something-for-nothing, frequently abusive, YELLING IN ALL CAPS, grammatically incorrect, annoying as all get out posts.</font>

You go, you 'american texan princess'!
I would rather lurk in a WT36/LY744/etc. free FT than ever read another one of his posts.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mashav:
You go, you 'american texan princess'!
I would rather lurk in a WT36/LY744/etc. free FT than ever read another one of his posts.

</font>

Well mashav - as you told me in Philly, we always do everything BIG in Texas.

I think I'm gonna go drag my lazy massage-getting, LAGOS-wearing, Texas-princess butt off to go get my nails done or something. This is getting too messy for me....

I have kept out of this outrageous multithread saga for as long as I possibly could, but this is TOO RICH! The infamous JAG0052 posts are beginning to pale in comparison. I would post a roll-eyes face but the eyeballs don't go high enough. Thank you "American Texan Princesses" for speaking out. I think we're all with you. Where are the moderators when you need them?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
Well mashav - as you told me in Philly, we always do everything BIG in Texas.

I think I'm gonna go drag my lazy massage-getting, LAGOS-wearing, Texas-princess butt off to go get my nails done or something. This is getting too messy for me....</font>

Techgirl,

Princess/goddess

I'd be happy to buy you a mojito during any timeout we might get out of this http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif



[This message has been edited by ScottC (edited 04-16-2002).]

oh this is adorable. tech, you are still a princess, but will differntiate you from your friend - a texan princess

how could one not read your fairytale report and book and not call you princess

we jews have a name for it, it is called a jap-jewish american princess-we cant stand these women, i was married to one, she ran up my credit cards and i had to work long hours to pay her bills, hence, i am now divorced. you are no different

michael my bro has already taken a voluntary time out, so no loss to him he isnt even looking at this crap, though i am sure he will come across it later, he is on 3 other boards and is there now
-i mean no harm to him in any way

well texan princess, when you get slammed by a few of us israelis, we are not michael, he is much nicer than us, maybe you will see this is real



------------------
LY744

tell you what
you leave w/t alone, he plans to come back later when this has all died down, we'll leave you alone

i have seen your pro -arab posts in omni
there is nothing but blatant jew hatred over there, oh, i have "lurked" what a stupid word all over your boards.

michael shared many with us

go and do your nails texan princess and i am going to get back to work,

some of us have to work for a living
and i need to go into court and defend someone
some of us try to do some good in the world

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
well texan princess, when you get slammed by a few of us israelis, we are not michael, he is much nicer than us, maybe you will see this is real</font>

Not that anyone in their right mind would believe that that you are really who you claim you are, but this is too much.
Even my 'arab-loving','traitor a--' can't imagine a real Israeli solgier threatening to gang-'slam' a woman.
It's people like you, Michael that give us Jews a bad name.

------------------
Masha

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
we jews have a name for it, it is called a jap-jewish american princess-we cant stand these women, i was married to one, she ran up my credit cards and i had to work long hours to pay her bills, hence, i am now divorced. you are no different</font>

"we jews" have a name for you too: shmuck.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
we jews have a name for it, it is called a jap-jewish american princess-we cant stand these women, i was married to one, she ran up my credit cards and i had to work long hours to pay her bills, hence, i am now divorced. you are no different </font>

Well, you got me there. As my FT friends can attest, I'm just a lazy pampered girl running up my daddy's credit cards. I don't even know why I care about that FF status and stuff since I'm so busy flying my manicured butt 'round the world shopping and getting massages. You have me figured out. I concede.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> well texan princess, when you get slammed by a few of us israelis, we are not michael, he is much nicer than us, maybe you will see this is real </font>

Oh... I guess it is time to have my Daddy call up a couple of his bodyguards and send them over here to stand guard over me while I sit by the pool sipping my mojitos (thank you ScottC http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif )... I'll make sure that Guido and Vinnie are prepared when a bunch of high school kids show up at the gates.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
I'll make sure that Guido and Vinnie are prepared when a bunch of high school kids show up at the gates.</font>

Or, one high school kid, to be exact.

gosh, you go walk the dog at lunch and flames fly

I used to be amused by wt36 first posts, then well, I started reading them just to see how irritating he was getting and this weekend, well, it got really out of control and unpleasant.

techgirl-
you may be a tap (texas american princess) to some, but a flyertalk queen to others http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

lala
PAP (persian american princess for 22 years running, voted miss congenialty 85-90)

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by lalala:
techgirl-
you may be a tap (texas american princess) to some, but a flyertalk queen to others http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
</font>

Well you know, over on TAROM, we used to try to distinguish between goddesses and queens.

I think in that sense, I'm still just a goddess... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

But thanks for assuring me I'm not the only princess in these parts! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Well, I know of several cabin boys who still consider you a Goddess.....

gosh, I wasn't even going to go there.

TAG just doesn't sound as nice as TAP, dontchaknow?

lala

Michael,

You mentioned that there were a few oneworld lounges at Bradley at LAX.

I know there's the combined BA/QF lounge and the CX lounge. Any others? What about lounges for Aer Lingus, Lan Chile, and Iberia?

I was going to email you about this, but your profile does not show an email address.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
we jews have a name for it</font>

Just for the record, I am a Jew, and you certainly do not represent my views or opinions. Frankly, I am a little embarrassed if you think the type of rhetoric your are spewing is representative of myself and others of the same faith.

If you are going to take issue with me on this, please do so via my email address which is located in my profile. Thank you.

[This message has been edited by dsimon (edited 04-16-2002).]

Ah, I am the proud recipient of not one, but TWO WT36 hatemails! Took him quite a while... he must have a number of people to whom to send hatemail.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Buster CT1K:
Ah, I am the proud recipient of not one, but TWO WT36 hatemails! Took him quite a while... he must have a number of people to whom to send hatemail.</font>

The primary reason I haven't provided an email address. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
i have seen your pro -arab posts in omni
there is nothing but blatant jew hatred over there, oh, i have "lurked" what a stupid word all over your boards.
</font>

Oh, and by the way, I would encourage you to go find even ONE post of this nature by me that even remotely resembles this.

I have never strayed into these little political catfights in OMNI. Perhaps it is because my little salon-colored head can't comprehend these big things you people talk about.

Anyhow... that ought to keep you out of trouble for a while. Have fun searching.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
i need to go into court and defend someone
some of us try to do some good in the world
</font>

Well, I hope you do a better job defending your clients than you are "defending" yourself and your "bro". It's pretty sad that you resort to threats of violence and name-calling - it appears you lack the intellect to do any better. And I would also hope that you don't spew the same type of garbage in court. I doubt this is the sort of behavior that wins cases. (If you are, in fact, a lawyer, which for some reason I REALLY doubt.)

[This message has been edited by PeachesBB (edited 04-16-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
If I have to serve a time out, I would love nothing more for it to be for telling off a whiny want-something-for-nothing, petty kleptomaniac who has spend his entire four months on Flyer Talk annoying the hell out of all of us with his something-for-nothing, frequently abusive, YELLING IN ALL CAPS, grammatically incorrect, annoying as all get out posts.

(and right about now, I'm really wishing we had a "raspberry" smiley to top this off)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

</font>


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ElAl744:
oh this is adorable. tech, you are still a princess, but will differntiate you from your friend - a texan princess</font>

Dude, if I were you, I'd be more concerned with a texan princess than your average "run of the mill (racialslam)-american-princess." I've met a couple of these TAPs who can hide more firepower than an Israeli Army regular in the West Bank, and still look good in a mini and heels. But don't let that stop you (see below).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">how could one not read your fairytale report and book and not call you princess</font>

I, for one, did not get that impression. Then again, it:

Was honest. Was a pretty darned good read Did not rely upon multiple-handle-religious-flaming ......s for more than half it's followup posts


But what do I know?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
we jews have a name for it, it is called a jap-jewish american princess-we cant stand these women, i was married to one, she ran up my credit cards and i had to work long hours to pay her bills, hence, i am now divorced. you are no different
</font>

If she'd had the common courtesy to use a mileage earning card, you too could have taken CX in 1st. *rimshot*

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
michael my bro has already taken a voluntary time out, so no loss to him he isnt even looking at this crap, though i am sure he will come across it later, he is on 3 other boards and is there now
-i mean no harm to him in any way
</font>

Well, maybe I'll send my Mossad buddies to these other boards to ferret him out. (does anybody actually believe the depths we've sunk to in terms of nationalism or religious flamage with this thread? I hate to add to it, but it's like clubbing baby seals. I'd say trolls, but this is not even close to USENET quality trollage).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
well texan princess, when you get slammed by a few of us israelis, we are not michael, he is much nicer than us, maybe you will see this is real
</font>

I'm wondering if you would have the cajones to say something like that in person. One of the things that never ceases to amaze me about trolling-flamer-wanks on the internet (it's not germane to FT--stuff like this started on Usenet and has never looked back) is that I have about 25k miles in various programs that you would lack anything close to the stones to say anything even approaching what you've written to any of the players in person. Typically, those who come in and flame as you have (I'm not entirely convinced that you are a "multi-handle," but I put it at a high probablility) come and go, but are never seen as something like an FT event. It's nice to be a tough guy (and complete horses' posterior) on the internet, it's something else to do so in person.

That said, If you'd like, I'll give you the chance. And before you writeit, yeah, my online persona and the real deal are one in the same. Bunch of folks here will vouch to that effect (in fact, in the real world, I'm personally worse--you just cannot replicate the long-haired-geeks-with-guns-alcohol-loving-traveling-freak aura thru a computer).

That said, please go away, as I've probably all but guaranteed myself a timeout here, and I'm not in the mood to go for two.

Cheers.

------------------
Saving the world, one clue at a time.

[This message has been edited by ClueByFour (edited 04-16-2002).]

Somehow I think that Infinite Airways is going to come into this thread at some point, and I can't wait! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by robinhood:
I have kept out of this outrageous multithread saga for as long as I possibly could, but this is TOO RICH! The infamous JAG0052 posts are beginning to pale in comparison. I would post a roll-eyes face but the eyeballs don't go high enough. Thank you "American Texan Princesses" for speaking out. I think we're all with you. Where are the moderators when you need them?</font>


Whoops! I knew it! I just didn't read the entire thread close enough.

The six degrees of JAG0052 lives on on FT!

I WANT TO BE A PRINCESS TOO
Is there such a thing as a German-Asian-American Seattleite Princess??

It just seems to me that a REAL lawyer, or at least one who actually HAS clients, would be too busy working to have time to write the kind of drivel that is sadly polluting this thread.

Hey Texan girl..can you get me a nail appointment too?



[This message has been edited by missydarlin (edited 04-16-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by skofarrell:

Whoops! I knew it! I just didn't read the entire thread close enough.

The six degrees of JAG0052 lives on on FT!</font>

In which forum can I search to find the JAG0052 posts?

buster,

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum105/HTML/003619.html

Something about JAG. A few of us believe JAG is now flying CO and used to be EXP at 15. I love this thread ! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by eperaltaotero (edited 04-17-2002).]

Well - if all my friends are going to be in time outs - I might as well be too http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

E1A1714

How dare you insult the JAP????

&lt;/sarcasm on&gt;

It is the time honored role of a JAP to support the economy by charging up her husbands credit cards, which he works sooo hard to pay for, while she lounges around the house having the pool bois bring her mojitos http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

&lt;/sarcasm off&gt;

Don't piss off the JAG's

Well this Jewish American Goddess needs to go get a facial http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Have a great day

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by techgirl:
4. I'm going to greatly enjoy serving my time-out WITH you, WT36/ElAl/whatever other name you make up to come back under. Yes, I fully expect that e-mail from Randy to be coming along shortly. If I have to serve a time out, I would love nothing more for it to be for telling off a whiny want-something-for-nothing, petty kleptomaniac who has spend his entire four months on Flyer Talk annoying the hell out of all of us with his something-for-nothing, frequently abusive, YELLING IN ALL CAPS, grammatically incorrect, annoying as all get out posts.

(and right about now, I'm really wishing we had a "raspberry" smiley to top this off)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

</font>

Whoa!!!

You go, techgirl!!!